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Ir'OLIRAUO  MUSEInU  UF  APPLIED  GEOLOGY  AND  MINERALOGY. 


'  I  Subscription   Edition  Distributed  io,ooo. 

Author's  Edition  5,000.  -  -  Price  50c.   Post   Paid. 


DKNVER,  COLORADO. 
.883. 


C.   1     Kelly.  Printer,  406   Hollada>»  Street,  Denver.  Colo. 


I 


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Entered  according   to  act  of  Congress,  iVi  the  year  1S83,  by  John  K.  Hallowell,  in 
the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


PREFACE. 


No  excuse  or  apology  is  considered  to  be  be  in  order  for  the 
appearance  of  the  following  pages  before  my  readers.  It  is  some- 
thing that  was  found  to  be  needed,  the  object  being  to  give  real 
and  practical  information  regarding  one  of  the  richest  sections  of 
Colorado,  a  territory  about  which  much  has  been  said  through  the 
papers  and  by  rumor  during  the  last  three  years,  but  until  the  ap- 
])earance  of  the  following,  there  did  not  seem  to  be  sufficient 
actual  knowledge  of  this  described  section  shown  by  any  writer. 

The  appearance  of  the  work  in  two  editions  simultaneously, 
is  owing  to  the  manner  in  which  means  was  raised  for  its  pubhca- 
tion,  and  is  as  follows :  Before  leaving  Gunnison^  in  the  fall  of 
1882,  I  was  approached  to  know  if  I  could  not  embody  the  in- 
formation I  had  gained  in  some  shape  that  would  do  the  county 
good,  and  asked  what  I  would  do.  It  resulted  in  the  following 
proposition,  that  my  tune  and  expenses  for  five  months'  work,  my 
ten  years'  experience  in  geological  work,  and  the  time  required  to 
prepare  the  manuscript  for  a  pamphlet  would  be  my  contribution, 
if  the  residents  of  Gunnison  County  would  raise  the  money  to 
print  and  distribute  free,  10,000  copies  of  the  books.  I  to  mail 
8, 000  copies  throughout  the  United  States,  the  other  2,000  copies 
to  go  to  the  subscribers,  pro-rated  according  to  the  individual 
sums  paid,  and  thev  to  send  such  copies,  personally,  where  they 
thought  the  most  good  would  be  done. 

This  proposition  appeared  to  met  with  more  than  favor  every 
where,  and  I  felt  encouraged  to  complete  my  work ;  but,  wdien  the 
time  came  to  require  the  cash,  I  found  from  various  causes  that  I 
must,  to  make  a  success,  go  to  the  additional  expense  and  time  of 
visiting  all  parts  of  the  county  and  soHcit  these  subscriptions 
myself.  This  I  shrank  from,  and  I  can  frankly  say,  that  were  I 
able,  this  part  would  never  have  been  asked  for,  as  I  would  cheer- 
fully pay  and  give  the  whole  myself  rather  than  take  the  time,  and 
meet  what  I  did,  but  I  am  not  cowardly  and  was  not  going  to 
back  out  on  the  last  round,  even  if  it  did  require  a  part  from  me 
that  should  not  have  been  mine. 

To  have  this  work  accomplish  all  of  the  good  possible,  it 
needed  to  be  distributed  before  the  opening  of  the  Exposition  at 
Denver.  This  would  require  prompt  and  energetic  work.  Well, 
I  have  given  that  much  too,  but  at  the  end  find  I  will  have  to  pay 
several  hundred  dollars  to  make  the  amount  of  printing  and  post- 
age good,  as  I  took  certain  responsibilities  myself  in  order  to  save 
time.  I  find  no  fault  with  any  one,  w^ishing  to  believe  that  all 
have  done  all  that  they  could,  as  I  tried  to  do. 

At  the  last  moment  1  accepted  a  proposition  that  will  either 
make  the  above  good,  or  make  me  more  expense,  that  is  to  have 


?;Qnir;Q 


IV  PREFACE. 

an  extra  edition  of  5,000  copies,  printed  as  an  author's  edition, 
and  placed  on  sale  at  the  low  price  of  50c  per  copy. 

This  gives  fifty  per  cent,  more  books  than  I  agreed  to  pub- 
lish, but  I  hope  gives  me  a  small  chance  to  be  reimbursed  for  the 
extra  cash  I  have  had  to  pay  out. 

I  feel  that  the  reciting  of  the  foregoing  facts  are  due,  under  all 
of  the  circumstances  to  myself,  as  from  private  reports  already 
given,  very  many  thousands  of  dollars  have  already  been  brought 
into  Gunnison  County,  and  that  very  many  more  thousands  will 
follow  such  investments  when  the  knowledge  I  gave  in  private  re- 
ports, is  thus  made  widely  public. 

To  give  such  information  in  as  practical  a  method  as  I  could 
think  of,  I  have  tried  to  make  these  pages  a  hand-book  of  the 
described  territory,  so  that  the  reader,  if  he  so  desired,  could  go 
from  mining  camp  to  mining  camp,  and  have  recorded  facts  as  I 
found  them,  to  judge  by,  and  from  his  own  observations  as  a  prac- 
tical business  man  realize  himself,  whether,  in  any  part  of  Gunni- 
son County,  there  was  an  opportunity  for  a  fair  profit  for  him 
with  the  legitimate  use  of  capital. 

That  I  think  there  is,  is  proved  by  what  I  have  herein  said, 
that  others  think  there  is,  is  proved  already  by  what  has  been  in- 
vested on  what  I  have  already  reported,  and  if  the  ratio  should 
keep  up  for  three  years  more,  Gunnison  County  will  truly  be 
proved  to  be  Colorado's  Bonanza  County. 

To  have  this  proved  by  the  work  of  one  man  principally, 
might  be  considered  glory  enough,  perhaps  it  is,  but  the  air  is  to 
rare  at  these  altitudes  to  live  upon  "glory"  alone,  hence  the  strong 
advertising  I  give  myself,  that  I  may  get  my  share  of  the  branch 
of  mining  that  I  follow  for  a  living,  viz  :  reports,  purchases  and 
sales  of  mining  property.  Cash  from  this  source  means  addi- 
tional work  of  this  kind  in  future  years  of  my  residence  in  Col- 
orado. 

There  is  one  thing  in  connection  with  all  this,  that  I  sin- 
cerely regret,  but  could  not  help  now,  although  I  do  hope  to  be 
able  to  remedy  it  in  the  future,  by  publishing  a  supplement  to 
this.  That  is,  I  could  not  add  Tin  Cup  and  the  Taylor  Park 
country  to  the  present  work,  it  was  utterly  impossible.  In  five 
months  I  traveled  over  1,500  miles  on  foot  and  on  horseback,  to 
accomplish  what  was  done.  I  thoroughly  examined  3,000  square 
miles,  and  certainly  am  not  to  blame  that  Gunnison  County  is  so 
large  and  so  rich. 

To  amend  this  as  much  as  possible,  I  insert  here  the  Tin 
Cup  product,  which  talks  for  itself  Within  a  year  I  think  rje 
will  have  an  outlet  to  Gunnison  City,  thus  making  more  of  her  ore 
products  available. 

The  following  is  taken  from  the  Denver  Tribune  of  April  16, 
1883,  and  while  I  cannot  say  that  of  my  own  knowledge,  I  can 
verify  all  that  is  stated.     I  am  quite   confident  that  it  represents 


PREFACE.  V 

in  a  compact  and  clear  manner  the  value  of  Tin  Cup  as  a  mining 
district,  and  as  before  stated  hope  to  be  able  to  prove  it  per- 
sonally. 

Tin  Cup,  Colorado,  April  lo. — About  thirty  miles  east  and 
north  of  Gunnison  City,  within  Gunnison  County,  lies  the  Taylor 
River  basin.  This  basin  is  formed  by  the  Continental  range  to 
the  east,  the  Taylor  range  to  the  north.  Elk  range  to  the  west  and 
Fossil  range  or  Gold  hill  range  to  the  south.  It  is  forty  miles 
north  and  south,  with  a  mean  breadth  of  fifteen  miles.  The  con- 
tour of  the  basin  is  open  and  level.  Within  this  basin  is  the  head- 
waters of  Taylor  River,  quite  a  large  stream  of  water  the  year 
round.  Ties  and  sawlogs  can  be  floated  down  in  the  spring. 
The  entire  basin  is  very  heavily  timbered,  except  a  strip  along  the 
river  from  two  to  five  miles  in  breadth.  The  body  of  the  basin  is 
of  fine  gravel  formation.  Taylor  River  proper,  Texas  and  Willow 
Creeks,  unite  near  the  point  where  Taylor  River  enters  the  canon, 
forming  a  large  stream  of  water.  Seventeen  miles  west  of  where 
Taylor  River  breaks  through  the  Elk  range,  running  west,  Taylor 
and  East  Rivers  unite  and  form  Gunnison  River  (near  Fisher's)- 
Every  part  of  the  several  ranges  that  form  the  basin  are  rich  in 
silver,  gold,  iron,  plumbago  and  lead.  The  formation  of  Elk 
range  is  principally  lime,  with  porphyry  dykes  running  through  it. 
Within  this  range  (Elk)  we  have  the  mining  camps  of  Spring 
Creek,  Italian  Mountain,  Forrest  Hill,  Head  of  Taylor  River  or 
Emma.  Ashcroft  is  near  the  junction  of  Elk  and  Taylor  ranges, 
but  its  present  and  most  accessible  inlet  and  outlet  is  through 
Taylor  basin.  Along  the  Taylor  range  we  have  the  camps  of 
Beauman  and  Telluride.  The  formation  of  Taylor  range  is  lime, 
porphyry  and  granite.  Telluride  lies  at  the  junction  of  Taylor 
and  Continental  ranges  and  extends  from  this  junction  south  to 
the  intersception  of  Fossil  or  Gold  Hill  range.  Just  south  of 
Telluride,  following  the  divide  for  ten  or  twelve  miles,  is  a  broad 
gold  belt,  in  granite  formation.  This  has  very  little  development, 
on  account  of  being  under  a  heavy  deposit  of  gravel.  But  all 
gulches  coming  down  from  it,  some  eight  or  ten  in  number,  show 
up  very  well  in  free  or  placer  gold,  several  of  which  have  been 
worked,  and  are  paying  well.  South  of  this  gold  belt,  still  follow- 
ing the  range,  is  Chin's  camp,  or  main  district.  The  gold  belt 
and  Chin's  camp  are  both  of  granite  formation.  Texas  Creek 
Mining  District  lies  south  of  Chin's  camp.  The  formation  there 
is  granite  with  Hme  dykes  or  ledges.  South  of  this  we  have  the 
American  Mountain  District  of  granite  and  gneiss  formation.  This 
brings  us  to  the  Tin  Cup  Mining  District.  All  of  these  districts 
are  well  timbered,  well  watered  and  of  easy  approach,  from  the 
basin  by  firm  gravel  wagon  roads. 

While  these  camps  are  all  easy  to  get  at  from  within  the 
basin,  they  are  hardly  accessible  from  the  outside.  The  Cotton- 
wood, Alpine  and  Pitkin  passes  all  cross  a  rough  and  rugged  road, 


VI 


PREFACE. 


Alpine  pass  being  the  best  of  the  three.  The  most  natural  and 
easiest  approach  is  down  Taylor  River  to  Gunnison,  thirty  miles 
to  the  nearest  part  of  the  basin,  and  from  thirty  five  to  fifty  miles 
to  any  of  the  districts  herein  mentioned.  The  grade  up  Taylor 
River  will  average  from  Fisher's,  where  Taylor  and  East  River 
unite,  to  the  canon,  where  Taylor  enters  the  Elk  range,  or  outlet 
of  the  park  or  basin,  about  126  feet  to  the  mile,  as  shown  by  the 
grade  stakes  of  the  Denver  &  Rio  Grande  railway  survey.  The 
river  makes  a  canon  where  it  leaves  the  basin  for  nearly  four 
miles.  Then  the  canon  opens  out  to  considerable  breadth  on 
each  side  of  the  river.  A  railroad  can  easily  and  cheaply  be 
built  up  through  this  canon,  with  a  cost  not  greater  than  $3,500  to 
$4,500  per  mile,  from  where  the  track  now  lies  at  Fisher's  to 
within  the  basin  (seventeen  miles).  The  grading  is  principally 
gravel  work.  There  is  no  danger  of  snow  slides  and  no  danger 
of  the  river  ever  "gorging"  to  interfere  with  the  road  bed.  Where 
the  river  enters  the  canon  (seventeen  miles  from  Fisher's)  is  the 
town  site  of  Taylorville,  on  magnificent  placer  ground.  From 
Taylorville  all  the  above  named  mining  claims  are  of  easy  ap- 
proach, and  for  the  railroad  to  reach  any  of  these  only  a  road  bed 
need  be  thrown  up,  little  or  no  grading  being  required.  By  re- 
ferring to  the  accompanying  hst  of  mining  claims,  the  revenue  to 
the  railroad  can  be  easily  seen.  It  is  twenty-eight  miles  from 
Taylorville  to  Gunnison  City.  Below  I  give  the  distances  from 
Taylorville  to  the  different  camps  within  the  basin;  the  popula- 
tion of  last  season,  in  which  will  be  doubled  this;  also  the  output 
last  season,  which  was  secured  by  only  doing  the  required  assess- 
ment for  the  year,  and  which  output  can  be  increased  five  to  ten 
fold  this  year,  if  these  camps  have  the  outlet  given  them  by  a 
railroad.  Ashcroft  is  not  within  the  basin,  but  her  inlet  and  out- 
let is  through  it 


1 .  Taylorville  to  Spring  Creek 

2.  Taylorville  to  Italian  Mountain 

3.  Taylorville  to  Forrest  Hill. 

4.  Taylorville  to  Head  of  Taylor  River 

5.  Taylorville  to  Ashcroft 


6.  Taylorville  to  Beauman 

7.  Taylorville  toTelluride 

8.  Taylorville  to  Gold  Belt 

o    Taylorville  to  Chin's  camp     -. 

10    Taylorville  to  Texas  Creek  District 
II.  Taylorville  to  Tin  Cup     


7^2 

13 
9 
IS 
18 

i3>^ 


200  to  300  25  20  to 
125  to  150I  8120  to 

lOD  to  1251    S130  to 

180  to  250  io'30  to 
200  to  350  30125  to 


100  to  180 
100  to  125 
75  to  100 

TOO  to    125 


CHARACTER  OF 
OKES. 


10  25  to      10 

3  35  to    4c 
513°  to    12 


25  to  1751  8J25  to 
:So  to  40040.35  to 


Galena  &  carbonates 

Galena 

Free  gold  and  galena 

Galena  and  chlorides 

Sulphides,  carbonates 

chlorides,  galena 
Galena 
Tellurium 
Placer 

Chlorides  and  galena 
Galena  and  <;ulphides 
Sulphurets,  chlorides, 

galena  and  free  gold 


PREFACF.  VII 

^^'hat  a  railroad  wants  to  know  in  projecting  a  branch  or  line 
is,  what  it  will  cost  and  what  revenue  it  will  have.  The  answer 
here  is  evident. 

A  branch  line  from  Fisher's  up  into  this  basin  would  be  less 
that  eighteen  miles  in  length  with  no  hea^y  grades,  and  a  safe  and 
solid  road  bed  all  the  way,  with  no  blockades  in  winter  from  snow. 
It  would  enter  a  country  that  would  demand  supplies,  at  the 
lowest  calculation,  for  1,500  to  3,000  miners,  and  it  would  have 
the  handling  of  from  100  to  150  tons  of  ore  per  day.  If  a  railroad 
was  built  within  reach  of  the  ten  camps  here  shown,  in  less  than 
three  months  5,000  persons  woiild  be  added  to  their  population 
and  the  output  of  ore  would  rise  to  from  800  to  1,200  tons  per 
day.  Within  this  basin  there  is  all  character  of  ores — lime,  plum- 
bago, iron,  lead  and  copper.  The  entire  basin  is  covered  with 
good  saw-timber  and  timber  for  ties,  etc.  There  would  be  more 
revenue  to  a  railroad  that  would  build  to  it,  which  is  within  the 
near  reach  of  both  the  Denver  &  Rio  Grande  railroad  and  the 
Denver,  South  Park  &  Pacific  railroad,  than  any  other  line  they 
can  build  of  100  miles  in  extent. 

I  further  promise  that,  if  I  can  get  sufficient  encouragement 
to  make  a  special  work  of  the  Tin  Cup,  Taylor  Park,  Ashcroftand 
Aspin  sections,  during  the  year  18S3,  and  let  the  results  of  such  ex- 
aminations be  known  next  winter. 

I  can  only  add,  that  very  much  work  has  been  done  during 
the  past  winter  and  since  my  personal  visits  to  sections,  and  in 
every  instance,  the  results  so  far  surpass  anything  that  the  most 
sanguine  could  have  expected  in  these  few^  months. 

To  Mr.  John  H.  McCoy  this  work  is  respectfully  dedicated, 
as  he  is  doing  more  than  any  other  one  man  for  Gunnison  City 
and  county,  and  to  him,  personally,  I  owe  much  for  encourage- 
ment and  aid,  to  enable  me  to  accomplish  what  I  have  done. 

Respectfully, 

JOHN  K.  HALLOWELL. 

Denver,  Colo.,  June  i,  1883. 


vrn 


4 


.  INDEX. 


PAGE 


Chapter  I 

Former  Ideas  of  Gunnison  County — View  from  Marshall   Pass,   Etc.,    Etc. 

Chapter  II 13 

Evans'  Basin  — Ideas  on  Prospecting— Colorado  Anthracite  Coal  Co  ,   Etc. 

Chapter  III 18 

Fourth  of  July,    1882— Washington    Gulch   and  Placer  Mines  of  1859, 'Etc. 

Chapter  IV 22 

Poverty  Gulch — Crest  of  Elk   Mountain  Range — Little  Nell  Mining  Claim. 

Chapter  V 28 

Iron  Swamp.      Irwin.     Pioneer  Mill       Forest  Queen  Mine, 

Chapter  VI 40 

Elk   Basin.     Geology.     Elk   and    Micawber   Claims.     Anthracite   Coals   of 
Irwin.     Bitun.inous  Coals   of  Ohio   Creek.     Gunnison   City,  Etc.,  Etc. 

Chapter  VII 55 

Durango  and  Mexico  Claims.     Iron  Basin.    Silver  Basin.    Swan  Basin.  Etc. 

Chapter  VIII 64 

Anthracite  Range  and  other  Mountains.    Description  ol  Coal  Measures,  Etc 

Chapter  IX 73 

Coal  Creek  and  Redwell  Basin    Divide.     Cause   of  Iron    Swamp    and    Iron 
Spring      Peculiarities  of  the   Ruby  Silver   Belt.       Concentration,   Etc. 

Chapter  X : 77 

Return  to  Crested  Butte.     Mining  Claims  in  0-be-Joyful    Basin,   Etc.,  Etc. 

Chapter  XI 86 

Slate  River.     Geology  of  Treasury  Mt.  and  Vicinity.    Hawk-Eye  Mine,  Etc. 

Chapter  XII 92 

Elko  a  Cash  Market  for  Ores.     Copper  Creek.     Pass  to  Conundrum  Gulch 

Chapter  XIII 104 

Crooke's  Station.     Tomichi  Dome.     Hot  Springs   Park.     White  Pine,  Etc. 

Chapter  XIV 116 

Good-Bye  to  Crested  Butte.     From  Howville  into  Gunnison  City,  Etc.,  Etc. 

Chapter  XV 125 

A  prettily    Situated    Town.     A    Superior    Railroad    Outlet.       The    Mineral 
Farm,  a  Geological  Puzzle.     The  Silver  Islet  and  Fairview  Mines. 

Chapter  XVI 131 

First  Knowledge  of  Tomichi.     Fissure  Veins  of  Gold  and  Silver,  Etc.,  Etc. 

Chapter  XVII 137 

"Misled"  Capitalists.     Soft  and  Hard  Coal   Found   in  Gunnison.     Defini- 
tion of  "Anthracite,"     "What  Is  It?"     Beautiful  Building  Stone,  Etc. 

Chapter  XVIII 15.S 

The  Final  Summing  Up  of  the  Work  Done. 


Gunnison,  the  Bonanza  County. 


CHAPTER  I. 


Former  Ideas  of  Gunnison  County — View  from  Mar- 
shall   Pass — Gravels    at    Gunnison   City — 
Crested  Butte — Tertiary  Fos- 
sils— Crested  Butte 
Mt — A  Dream. 


Had  anyone  said  to  me  in  the  year  1881  that  in  1882 
you  will  be  in  the  Gunnison  country,  looking  it  over,  the 
same  as  you  have  done  other  portions  of  Colorado,  I 
would  have  laughed  at  them,  and  replied  three  to  five 
years  from  now  will  be  time  enough  for  that.  For  the 
reason  that  heretofore  it  has  taken  five  to  ten  years  to  prove 
practically  the  worth  of  a  mining  country,  that  capital 
might  be  induced  to  invest  in  means  of  transportation  ;  have 
mines  enough  opened  to  prove  to  capitalists  that  there  was 
sure  returns  for  their  investments,  as  well  as  possible  large 
profits  ;  and  on  that  basis  I  have  always  maintained  that 
the  older  counties  of  Colorado  were  much  the  best  for  the 
investment  of  large  capital,  as  they  had  the  following  ad- 
vantages, viz :  mines  opened,  so  that  the  country  was 
proved  to  a  point,  that  the  investor  could  judge,  relatively, 
what  expenditure  on  an  undeveloped  property  would  re- 
sult in  ;  transportation  by  rail,  making  in  most  instances  a 
cash  market  at  the  railroad  shipping  point ;  also  a  perma- 
nent mining  population  in  numbers  enough  that  labor 
could  be  depended  upon  at  fair  wages,  and  last,  but  not 
least,  organized  sources  of  supplies,  which  are  brought  to 
the  mining  camps  and  through  competition  vended  at  the 
lowest  possible  profits. 

Such  were  my  personal  ideas  and  I  was  free  to  so  express 


4  •'••.'    ■'-  GUNlflSOiVT'HE'' BONANZA    COUNTY.- 

them ;  but  this  spring  I  had  to  acknowledge,  that  what  it 
used  to  take  ten  years  to  accomplish  in  the  State  of 
Colorado  is  now  done  in  three.  That  the  Gunnison  coun- 
try has  railroad  transportation  and  cash  markets  for 
ores  produced;  that  already  it  has  developed  mines  proving 
the  different  mining  camps;  that  this  year  will  see  it  teeming 
with  a  permanent  resident  mining  population;  that  competi- 
tion in  the  sale  of  supplies  will  naturally  follow,  and  the  prob- 
abilities are,that  the  next  three  years  will  see  a  greater  propor- 
tionate demand  for  Gunnison  County  mines  by  capitalists 
than  any  other  section  of  the  State. 

That  at  least  seven  years'  time  has  been  saved  to  the 
miners  and  prospectors  of  this  county  is  almost  wholly  due 
to  the  energy,  foresight,  and  business  capacity  of  the  mana- 
gers of  the  Denver  &  Rio  Grande  Railroad  Company.  Their 
energy  is  shown  in  the  fact  that  there  is  not  a  mountain  canon 
that  they  needed  to  go  up,  but  they  said  to  their  engineers, 
"find  us  a  way  through,"  and  no  matter  what  the  difficul- 
ties, it  was  done.  No  mountain  range  has  been  too  high 
for  their  workmen  to  find  a  way  over.  Their  foresight  is 
evidenced  by  the  fact,  that  their  surve}'ing  parties  passed 
into  each  portion  of  the  State  along  with,  and  sometim^es 
ahead  of  the  prospectors,  so  that  when  they  built  into  a 
new  country,  it  was  with  an  almost  absolute  knowledge  of 
its  resources.  Their  business  capacity  is  recorded  in  the 
fact,  that  they  have  organized  and  maintained  a  large  and 
successful  corporation,  independendent  of  any  Eastern 
clique,  but  which  belongs  to  the  State  of,  and  really  repre- 
sents Colorado  as  a  railroad  organization,  and  is  not  the 
tail  of  anything  else.  To  these  men  much  is  due  in  honor 
and  esteem,  as  well  as  profit,  by  the  people  of  Colorado  as 
a  whole.  This  is  no  paid  tribute  to  men  who  hold  promi- 
nent positions  in  the  State,  for  no  man  nor  company  pays 
me  for  this  kind  of  work  ;  and  I  claim  the  right  to  find 
fault  where  I  think  I  can  point  out  the  better  way,  as   well 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  5 

as  express  my  admiration  and  esteem  of  men  whom  I  be- 
lieve are  worthy  of  it,  and  have,  as  I  can  see,  done  well. 

I  came  to  this  part  of  the  country  partly  on  business 
for  others,  with  a  faint  idea  I  could  do  a  little  for  myself, 
and  to  get  a  personal  knowledge,  as  I  could  work  it  up,  of 
the  geology  of  the  mining  districts  on  this  side  of  the  range. 
This  part  I  desire  to  make  public  as  fast  as  I  can  learn  it 
myself,  hoping  it  may  be  of  benefit  to  others,  of  good  to 
the  State  as  a  whole,  and  a  portion  of  the  results  fall  to  me 
individually. 

At  Marshall  Pass  one  gets  the  first  view  of  the  country 
west  of  the  Continental  Divide.  On  a  fine,  balmy  morn- 
ing, a  few  day  since,  I  stood  on  the  depot  platform  look- 
ing over  miles  upon  miles  of  country  ;  diversified  by  large 
valleys,  smaller  enclosed  parks,  beautiful  winding  streams, 
far-stretching  woodlands,  open  grass-covered  grazing  sec- 
tions, softly-rounded  elevations  among  the  foothills,  all 
with  snow-clad  mountain  peaks  rising  heavenward  for  a 
back-ground. 

To  stand  on  the  edge  of  all  this  at  an  elevation  of  over 
10,800  feet,  in  such  a  clear  bracing  atmosphere,  with  such 
sunlight  and  gentle  breezes  as  only  Colorado  can  have  ;  to 
look  outward  and  beyond  with  the  feeling  that  here  was  a 
new  country  where  much  was  to  be  learned  and  told  ;  to 
feel  what  it  possibly  might  be  to  the  world  at  large,  was  to 
be  overcome  with  an  awe  that  was  mingled  with  a  rever- 
ence devoutly  thanking  God  that  one  was  alive,  able  and 
willing  to  do  in  this  day  and  year  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century. 

The  first  thing  observed  in  the  decent  into  the  valley 
below  was  its  apparent  abruptness ;  as  instead  of  the  long 
laborious  ascent  from  the  eastern  foothills  over  miles  of 
uptilted,  hard  metamorphic  rocks,  to  get  to  the  central 
axis,  or  primitive  granite  nucleus  of  the  Continental  Divide, 
here  the  more  recent  formations,  such   as   post  cretaceous 


6  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.' 

and  tertiary,  appear  to  abut  directly  against  the  primitive 
granite.  These  rocks  being  generally  built  up  of  strata  of 
soft  friable  sandstone  and  shale,  with  intermingled  strata  of 
limestone,  most  of  them  not  very  compact.  The  rocks 
being  of  this  character,  the  great  erosion  of  these 
valleys  is  accounted  for,  as  well  as  the  low,  rounded, 
heavily  timbered  hills  making  the  dividing  ridges  of  the 
numerous  small  valleys  of  this  geologic  section.  The  coun- 
try along  the  railroad  appeared  to  have  much  of  a  same- 
ness, as  to  its  geology,  after  descending  the  mountain  slope 
through  to  Gunnison  City.  Nowhere  could  I  be  sure  that 
I  recognized  the  heavy  bedded  metamorphic  rocks  of  the 
eastern  slope,  although  studying  geology  on  a  railroad 
train  at  the  rate  of  fifteen  miles  an  hour  is  not  a  method 
that  insures  accuracy. 

Having  to  wait  at  Gunnison  nearly  two  hours,  I  took 
time  to  examine  the  open  gravel  bed  near  the  depot,  feel- 
ing sure  that  here  I  would  find  an  accumulation  of  samples 
of  the  country  rocks  brought  down  from  the  heads  of  the 
streams  centering  here.  What  struck  me  first  was  the  great 
variety  of  the  boulders  representing  eruptive  rocks,  making 
fully  nine-tenths  of  the  whole,  from  the  earliest  granite 
porphries,  down  through  the  rhyolytes  to  the  most  recent 
lavas,  represented  by  black  vesicular  boulders,  with  very 
large  air  cells,  or  blebs,  in  fact  a  very  coarse  pomice  stone. 
Intermingled  with  these  were  some  of  the  sandstones  evi- 
dently only  moved  a  short  distance,  and  occasionally  a 
black  limestone  pebble  saying,  "at  my  home  we  have  layers 
of  coal." 

All  of  these  samples  to  me  meant  business,  and  were 
the  first  alphabetical  letters  of  my  future  knowledge,  and 
gave  me  the  idea  of  what  I  ought  to  find,  which  would  be 
outlined  in  this  manner.  In  places  the  granite  porphyry 
outcropping  through  eroded  sedimentary  rocks,  with  pos- 
sibly more  recent  volcanic  rocks  beyond  and  higher,  caus- 


GUNNISON,    VHK  BONANZA  COUNTY.  / 

ing- b\' their  eruption  fissures  through  the  earHer  eruptive 
as  well  as  the  sedimentary  rocks.  The  filling"  of  these 
fissures  would  be  like  the  ore  bodies  and  mineral  veins  of 
tht)se  at  present  known  in  other  sections,  the  granite-por- 
phyr\'  being  really  the  countr)-  rock,  and  only  lightly  over- 
laid with  sedimentar}'  material.  I  ought  to  find  these 
veins  large,  continuous,  with  abundance  of  mineral,  and  the 
ore  possibly  of  an  average  high-grade.  That  is  what  the 
pebbles  of  the  gravel  pit  said  to  me  ;  it  remains  for  future 
work  to  prove  how  near  I  read  them  aright. 

Leaving  Gunnison  Junction,  the.  railroad  follows  Slate 
river  westward  for  about  thirty  miles,  gradually  climbing  in 
that  distance  nearl}'  3,000  feet,  and  having  for  its  terminus 
on  this  branch,  the  town  of  Crested  Butte,  the  place  taking 
its  name  from  the  most  prominent  landmark  at  the 
entrance  to  this  geological  basin.  This  town  is  located  in 
one  of  the  finest  Colorado  valleys  that  I  have  seen,  Avith 
every  evidence  of  natural  wealth  second  to  none,  to  be  re- 
alized upon  by  the  labor  and  capital  of  the  future.  Just 
back  of  the  town  are  the  coal  beds,  known  to  be  three  diff- 
erent  stratas,  not  many  feet  apart,  and  ranging  from  four  to 
eleven  feet  thick,  of  as  fine  fuel  as  is  known  anywhere. 
The  strata  apparently  undisturbed  by  the  gradual  elevation 
of  the  whole  country  from  at,  or  near  sea  level  to  its 
present  heighth.  I  had  asked  many  if  they  knew  of  any 
fossils  connected  with  these  sedimentary  deposits  at  this 
place  ;  no  one  of  many  had  seen  them.  The  first  thing  I 
done  was  to  look  for  them,  as  their  presence  or  absence 
meant  much,  as  well  as  the  kind  of  fossils,  in  telling  the 
story.  I  had  no  difficulty  in  getting  the  most  beautiful 
impressions  of  the  leaves  of  deciduous  trees,  and  the  one 
that  had  the  most  to  say  was  a  palm-leaf,  for  it  said,  "when 
I  grew  on  lands  near  by,  where  you  find  me,  there  was  a 
scorching  sun,  a  moist  climate,  hot,  murky  vapors  arising 
from  rank  decaving  vegetation,  a  sea  not  far  off  with  fresh 


8  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

water  streams  running  to  it  through  lowlands,  sluggish  and 
tortuous  in  their  course,  great  marshes  bordering  the  coast,  in 
fact,  to  be  only  compared  with  the  rankest  tropical  climate 
of  to-day." 

The  books  said  that  here  was  the  closing  of  the  post- 
cretaceous  age,  and  the  sandstones  overlaying  were  possi- 
bly the  commencement  of  the  tertiary  period. 

A  botanist  would  go  into  ecstacies  over  the  Flora  of 
these  sedimentary  hills,  flowers  in  bloom  without  number, 
and  some  that  I  never  had  seen  before. 

Of  fossils  I  could. not  find  here  any  sea  life,  not  a  shell, 
fish-tooth,  or  cast  of  one.  Now  this  to  me  means  a  great 
deal,  as  when  the  condition  of  an  ocean  or  sea  depositing 
sediments,  afterward  rock,  is  such  that  there  can  be  noth- 
ing living  that  moves  and  has  an  individuality  of  its  own, 
there  must  be  peculiar  causes.  Those  causes  must  come 
from  the  lands  adjacent,  and  where  there  has  been  such  an 
effect  as  here,  I  hope  in  time  to  be  able  to  show  the  cause. 

My  next  effort  was  to  climb  Crested  Butte  Mountain,, 
to  see  what  it  was  made  of,  as  well  as  to  get  a  view  of  the 
surrounding  country.  Striking  straight  across  the  vallejr 
from  the  Elk  Mountain  Hotel,  and  noting  the  immense 
amount  of  erosion  done  in  past  time  by  the  Slate  river,, 
which  here  follows  a  winding,  tortuous  course  through 
grassy  meadows.  I  learned  as  I  approached  the  other 
side  that  the  strata  was  cut  down  below  the  known  coal- 
beds,  and  that  if  any  more  than  the  three  known  were  in 
existence  they  would  show  outcrops  or  signs  further  down 
the  Slate.  The  change  in  the  Flora  on  this  side  of  the  val- 
ley is  remarkable,  the  plants  and  flowers  of  the  coal  meas- 
ure side  outnumbering  this  side  ofthe  valley  more  than  ten  to 
one.  I  found  Crested  Butte  Mountain  to  be  a  homogenous 
mass  of  eruptive  rock,  with  feldspar  and  silica  for  a  base, 
enclosing  crystals  of  feldspar,  crystals  of  hornblende,  also 
of  sanidine  and  some  small  scales  of  mica,  evidently  a  black 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  9 

amphibole ;  in  fact,  the  whole  mass  was  granite  porphyry, 
the  oldest  rock  I  shall  find  in  this  country  I  expect,  but 
not  so  old  itself  but  that  I  found  it  enclosing  small  frag- 
ments of  a  still  older  rock.  Could  these  fragments  only 
talk  what  a  history  they  could  relate. 

Leisurely  picking  my  way  up,  up,  and  ever  up,  I 
finally  arrived  at  the  highest  growth  of  trees  of  this  moun- 
tain. Here  was  a  patch  of  snow,  from  which  a  clear  stream 
of  water,  such  as  you  read  about,  ran,  and  here  I  rested 
and  dined — a  chew  of  horse -shoe  plug,  a  drink  of  snow- 
water with  a  cigar  for  desert  comprised  the  frugal  meal. 
But  when  a  grand  glorious  panorama  was  spread  at  my 
feet  (now  that  is  as  near  being  aesthetic  as  I  consider  it 
necessary  for  a  Coloradoan  to  get);  back  of  and  above  me 
still  towered  some  hundreds  of  feet  of  the  bare  rocky  crags 
of  Crested  Butte ;  to  the  south  and  southeast  were  the 
heavily  timbered  sedimentary  rocks,  with  their  wealth  of 
coals,  backed  by  snow-clad  mountains  of  apparently 
the  same  formation  and  age  as  the  one  I  was  on.  While 
north,  northwest,  west  and  southwest,  were  huge  snow- 
clad  pinnicals,  showing  in  some  places  the  sedimentary 
rocks  carried  up  and  covering  their  tops,  with  horrizontal 
strata  appearing  on  their  sides,  diversified  in  the  northwest 
by  the  strata  being  tilted  on  one  mountain  apparently  dip- 
ping southeast,  or  another  inclined  to  the  northwest,  show- 
ing thin-bedded  strata  over  this  locality  and  a  fold  over  a 
possible  granite  porphry  axis  below. 

At  my  feet  to  the  south  was  the  town  of  Crested 
Butte,  beautifully  located ;  to  the  west  Gothic,  nestling  in 
a  green  valley  ;  wagon  roads  winding  in  various  directions 
up  the  valleys  ;  overhead  the  blue  vault  of  heaven  ;  at  my 
side  the  breeze  gently  murmering  through  the  evergreens, 
giving  the  soothing  gentle  touch  that  only  a  mountain 
breeze  through  the  pines  knows  how  to_  give.  It  was  a 
spot  and  scene  for  the  poet  and  painter. 


10  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

As  I  lay  outstretched,  filling  myself  with  the  miles  of 
wonders  before  me  and  perhaps  gradually  dropping  into  un- 
consciousness, I  seemed  to  hear  a  voice  speaking  in  thiswise: 
"Ah, me!  my  friend,you  are  only  looking  upon  a  wreck  of  what 
was.  Could  you  only  have  seen  me  in  my  glory  and  pride, 
when  I  was  and  island  in  the  midst  of  a  glorious  sea.  At 
my  feet  were  shorelands  covered  with  tropical  vegetation, 
up  my  sides  grew  such  grand  trees  as  you  never  saw.  I 
stopped  the  passing  clouds  and  down  my  sides  ran  the 
tumbling  waters,  while  with  my  head  above  all,  I  laughed 
in  the  sunlight  as  I  enjoyed  my  bath.  How  long  this  time 
went  on  I  cannot  tell  as  you  count  time,  but  it  was 
ages.  Then  came  a  change.  I  do  not  know  the  cause,  but 
the  waters  rose  around  my  sides.  I  could  not  see  the 
shore  lines,  the  boundaries  of  this  sea,  and  occasionally 
some  massive  head  like  mine,  was  struggling  above  the 
watery  waste.  I  say  waste,  for  no  life  appeared  now  in 
this  sea,  but  a  nasty,  slimy  mud  alternating  with  sands  was 
laid  around  the  lower  part  of  my  body,  shallowing  the 
waters  until  what  was  once  deep  sea,  became  wet,  boggy 
marshes,  full  of  rank,  rapid  growing  vegetation,  vast 
beds  of  it,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach.  It  was  what 
makes  your  coal  beds  now.  Again  the  waters  rose,  and 
with  the  clayey  sediment  washed  from  adjoining  lands 
came  floating  patches  of  leaves  to  sink  and  be  buried  at 
my  feet,  grieving  me  as  I  recalled  the  life  and  light  that 
once  were  mine.  This  was  repeated  many  times.  The 
waters  kept  rising — you  would  say  I  kept  sinking.  It 
matters  not,  the  result  was  the  same.  The  last  glimpse  I 
had  of  my  comrades  was  to  the  southeast,  where  they  still 
kept  above  the  waters.  Look  at  that  mountain  directly 
west,  with  the  mining  village  at  its  feet.  He  is  my  brother 
and  went  down  with  me.  To  the  northwest  the  water  was 
still  deeper,  and  vaster  beds  of  these  muds  were  laid  down. 
I    was   near   the   sea  border.     Finally    over   my  head  the 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  I  I 

waters  passed,  and  I  could  only  guess  at  what  was  being 
done.  I  was  bound  in  the  tightest  of  dungeon  fetters,  and 
felt  the  masses  of  mud  still  growing  above  me.  From 
their  oppressive  weight,  I  knew  I  was  carrying  hundreds  of 
feet,  and  all  hope  of  ever  seeing  the  blessed  sunlight  was 
gone  from  me,  I  felt  forever.  Ages  upon  ages  passed, 
then  came  the  rumbling  of  earthquakes,  strange  move- 
ments I  felt,  and  stranger  sounds  I  heard.  Everything 
appeared  to  be  breaking  and  smashing  but  a  short  distance 
off.  I  was  sensible  of  a  movement  up,  up,  and  still  up- 
wards, slowly  but  always  moving  ;  would  I  never  stop  ?  I 
was  bound  and  blinded,  yet,  surrounded  by  the  hardened 
mud-masses  of  the  old  sea,  and  at  last  I  seemed  to  rest. 
Gradually  I  heard  noises  of  rushing,  roaring  waters  ;  these 
mud-masses  appeared  to  be  torn  from  my  head  and  sides 
by  an  irresistible  force;  gradually  I  saw  the. light,  then  the 
sun  again.  By  my  sides  were  swift  running  waters,  of  a 
kind  new  to  me,  for  they  were  cold,  and  chilled  me  through 
and  through.  I  noticed  the  rains  of  former  times  were  now 
white  fleecy  masses.  Surrounding  me  were  new  acquaint- 
ances, great  towering  fellows,  covered  with  conjealed 
waters  that  came  rushing  down,  as  melted  in  the  summer's 
sun,  tearing  and  grinding  about  me,  laying  my  sides  and 
ribs  bare  to  the  snows  and  wintry  blasts.  These  new 
friends  are  unlike  anything  I  knew  before  ;  reaching  high 
above  me,  I  can  see  they  are  different  from  myself,  evi- 
dently built  of  the  muds  of  the  deepest  part  of  the  old 
sea,  and  their  heighth  above  me  showed  how  deep  was  my 
burial  place.  My  brother  there  to  the  west  shook  off  his 
grave  clothes  as  I  did,  and  together  we  have  been  through  all 
these  ages  of  change  I  tell  you  of.  But  I  do  not  like  it 
now.  Your  snows,  frosts  and  falling  waters  are  slowlybut 
surely  working  my  ruin  ;  gradually  I  am  wearing  away, 
and  can  only  look  forward  in  the  future  realms  of  time,  to 
become  as  naught,  or   existing    only    in    fragments    along 


12  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

miles  upon  miles  of  running  waters,  who  still  break  me  up 
to  smaller  fragaments  and  particles,  atomiS  of  which  go 
down  to  the  great  sea,  there  to  make  parts  of  a  new  rock 
and  perhaps  in  time  a  new  world.  It  is  this  looking 
forward  to  the  unknowable  I  dread,  and  cannot  help  my- 
self; these  rude  elements  are  stronger  than  I  am." 

"But,  hark  ye, my  friend;  could  you  see  the  marvelous 
changes  that  I  have  witnessed,  in  all  of  its  minutiae,  you 
might  then  talk  of  your  knowledge  as  a  science.  But  keep 
on  working,  for  those  who  come  after  you,  will  profit  by 
what  you  learn,  and  many  shall  come  after  you  and  I  are 
gone,  gone." 

I  awoke  with  a  start  to  find  that  old  Crested  Butte  had 
set  me  to  dreaming,  and  that  I  had  only  two  hours  to  get 
back  over  ground  that  had  taken  six  to  come.  I  made  it 
though  in  time  for  supper,  as  a  second  aesthetical  meal  I 
had  no  ambition  for. 

Of  this  town  of  Crested  Butte,  its  present  and  possible 
future,  I  will  have  something  to  say  in  another  letter,  as 
well  as  sundry  future  letters,  regarding  the  surrounding 
mining  camps,  as  I  have  opportunity  to  see  them.  As  I 
fear  that  I  have  made  this  letter  unreasonably  long,  I  will 
merely  add  that  the  Elk  Mountain  House  is  managed  by 
the  town  company,  and  if  they  will  always  keep  as  good  a 
hotel  in  the  future  as  now,  may  it  be  my  lot  to  spend  a 
portion  of  each  summer  with  them. 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTV.  I  3 


CHAPTER  II. 


Evans'  Basin — Ideas  on  Prospecting — Sulphur  Spring 

— Hayden  Lake — Pittsburg— Colorado 

Anthricite  Company's  Lands — 

Tertiary  Coal  Measures. 


Since  writing  you  before,  the  weather  has  been  quite 
showery,  and  somewhat  interferred  with  my  getting  around 
as  much  as  I  wished  to.  However,  I  have  done  some  work 
and  herewith  is  a  synopsis  of  what  I  have  seen,  and  as  I 
understand  it. 

My  next  climb  was  up  to  Evans'  Basin,  from  a  place 
on  the  Irwin  road,  about  three  miles  from  Crested  Butte; 
what  the  elevation  was  I  do  not  exactly  know,  but  after 
a  laborous  climb  through  swarms  of  mosquitos,  over  fallen 
timber,  through  brush  and  other  obstacles,  I  found  my- 
self past  where  timber  grew  and  patches  of  snow  lying 
around,  (I  see  the  thermometer  is  over  90°  in  Denver) 
here  I  found  an  immense  outcrop  of  porphyry,  well  stained 
with  iron  oxide,  and  a  great  deal  of  good  looking  quartz 
float  lying  around,  some  in  large  masses,  all  indicating  the 
presence  of  an  ore  body  in  connection  with  this  porphyry. 
This  mountain  is  composed  of  sedimentary  rocks  from  bot- 
tom to  summit  which  belong  to  the  Crested  Butte  coal 
basin.  Provisionally  I  must  keep  these  coal  measures  b\' 
themselves,  until  I  can  find  something  I  can  compare  them 
to,  as  I  know  nothing  recorded  that  agrees  with  the  forma- 
tions here,  in  their  details ;  consequently  I  have  to  be  ver}- 
careful  in  generalizing  at  all,  and  wish  to  be  very  sure  of 
my  facts  here  before  I  draw  deductions,  that  might  turn 
out  to  be  erronous  in  the  future ;  but  I  have  seen  some 
stransre  thino-s. 


14  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

Evans'  Basin  illustrates  very  well  a  portion  ofthe  min- 
eral bearing  districts  of  this  section,  and  the  difficulties  a 
prospector  labors  under.  There  is  on  the  mountain  side, 
two  to  three  thousand  feet  of  wash  and  slide,  before  I 
came  to  this  porphyry  outcrop,  which  breaks  up  through 
the  coal  measures,  and  comes  through  so  nicely  that  the 
horizontal  strata  of  the  coal  measures  are  merely  fissured, 
no  other  disturbance  apparent,  and  there  is  no  change  in 
the  country  rock.  It  is  just  possible  that  the  porphyry 
was  there  before  the  coal  measures,  I  am  not  certain  yet. 

It  is  at  such  exposed  places  as  these,  high  up  near  the 
mountain  summit,  that  the  mineral  bearing  rocks  are  ex- 
posed by  erosion  ;  up  here  is  where  the  prospector  finds 
his  surface  float  nearest  in  place,  finds  his  vein,  makes  his 
location  and  does  his  work. 

There  were  two  gangs  of  prospectors  at  work  on 
each  side  of  the  basin  the  day  I  was  up,  and  working  in 
most  inaccessible  places.  If  the  ore  was  worth  $i,ooo  per 
ton  it  would  take  large  capital  to  make  it  practically  avail- 
able. They  were  up  over  200  feet  above  me,  and  from  the 
stuff  rolled  down,  they  had  not  got  as  good  material  as  lay 
at  my  feet,  and  which  evidently  came  from  nearer  by.  The 
average  prospector  is  a  marvel  of  a  biped,  but  I  do  not 
know  that  the  average  mine  purchaser  is  any  less  of  an 
anomaly. 

From  what  I  have  seen  here  I  am  inclined  to  the  be- 
lief, that  there  are  larger  and  better  veins  lower  down  the 
slopes  of  these  mountains,  but  so  covered  by  the  detritus 
that  no  ordinary  surface  indications  are.  visible.  I  say 
larger  and  better  because  if  they  do  exist  at  all,  the  top  of 
the  original  vein  has  been  loaded  down  with  the  rest  ofthe 
country  rock,  cutting  it  down  many  hundreds  of  feet,  and 
bringing  the  present  vein  top  nearer  the  source  of  supply 
for  the  fissure  filling,  resulting  in  a  larger  crevice  at  such 
places,  and  larger  bodies  of  mineral.     The  gangue  or  crevice 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  I  5 

matter  of  this  country  is  generally  with  the  best  ores  and 
largest  bodies  of  mineral,  a  much  softer  material  than 
quartz,  a  composition  that  would  disintegrate  more  readily 
in  winters'  frosts,  and  wash  out  by  melting  snows  and  rains, 
than  the  surrounding  layers  of  sandstones.  This  action 
would  leave  a  sag  in  the  ground  surface,  which  the  disin- 
tegrating country  rock  would  wash  into  and  finally  fill ;  the 
result  being  that  the  whole  mountain  slope  for  a  couple  of 
thousand  feet,  appears  to  be  a  mass  of  broken  sandstones, 
fine  soil  and  rank  growing  vegetation,  and  the  best  veins 
are  thus  buried,  making  the  prospector  climb  3,000  feet 
higher  and  get  less. 

Right  here  I  feel  that  the  w^orthy  prospector  has  the 
right  to  remark,  "what  is  the  good  of  all  this  palaver  if  we 
cannot  find  the  veins?"  Have  patience  my  friend,  knowing 
the  causes  that  have  produced  obstacles,  rather  than  any- 
thing else,  there  certainly  may  be  found  a  way  to  overcome 
them,  and  knowing  these  causes,  we  can  work  more  inteli- 
gently,  especially  if  satisfied  that  the  result  will  be  pay  ore. 

My  next  trip  was  seven  miles  up  the  Slate  river  to  the 
town  of  Pittsburg,  I  went  in  company  with  Mr.  Geo.  W. 
Cole,  manager  of  the  Colorado  Anthracite  Coal  Co.  On 
the  road  about  three  miles  from  Crested  Butte  we  stopped 
at  a  large  spring  of  sulpher  water,  and  filled  up  with  the 
only  mineral  water  I  ever  tasted  fit  to  drink ;  clear,  cold, 
pure  and  soft ;  just  sulpher  enough  to  give  it  a  fair  taste,  it 
really  was  delicious.  There  must  be  considerable  sulpher 
in  the  water  too,  as  the  grass  through  which  the  water  ran 
from  the  spring  was  heavily  coated  with  a  white  sulphur 
deposit.  Within  half  a  mile  of  the  spring  is  Hayden  lake, 
\vhich  has  some  peculiarities  that  I  have  been  told  of,  and 
which  I  hope  to  be  able  to  investigate  during  the  season. 

We  only  stopped  long  enough  in  Pittsburg  to  see  that 
here  is  an  opportunity  in  time  to  make  a  mining  town  ;  but 
it  would  seem  to  an   outsider  that  if  the   men  most   inter-- 


1 6  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

ested  in  making  a  town  and  selling  lots,  had  much  confidence 
in  it  themselves,  that  they  would  make  a  good  road  to  it. 
The  drive  from  Crested  Butte  is  execrable,  while  a  little 
money  expended  would  make  a  good  road,  as  the  grade  is 
not  difficult,  while  of  the  material  to  be  moved  plows,  and 
a  road  scraper  will  do  it  all. 

On  the  way  back  we  stopped  to  visit  the  above  men- 
tioned Company's  coal  lands,  2,500  acres,  and  located  on  each 
side  of  Slate  river.  The  taking  up  of  the  land  on  each  side  of 
the  river,  certainly  evidences  commendable  foresight,  as  it 
practically  makes  all  of  their  land  available  for  develop- 
ment. On  the  portion  located,  on  the  dividing  ridge 
between  Washington  gulch  and  Slate  river,  we  climbed  up 
the  trail  nearly  1,000  feet  to  the  first  opening,  and  then  did 
not  appear  to  be  more  than  half  way  up  the  slope,  which 
is  quite  steep.  We  found  the  men  were  drifting  in  through 
the  slide,  near  by  which  there  was  the  appearance  of  coal 
float,  showing  well.  As  they  had  not  got  through  the 
slide  to  solid  formation  yet,  it  was  impossible  to  tell  how 
near  they  were  going  to  strike  the  vein  they  were  after ;  but 
from  appearances,  a  few  feet  further  would  bring  them  to 
solid  formation  of  some  kind.  Mr.  Cole,  the  gentleman  in 
charge,  having  had  large  experience  in  Pennsylvania  coal 
fields,  is  just  the  man  to  open  up  a  territor}-' like  this,  as 
past  experience  enables  him  to  make  the  work  done  show, 
at  the  last  expense,  whether  there  is  coal  in  this  territory 
in  paying  quantities  or  not.  From  what  he  does,  others 
owning  coal  lands  in  this  section,  but  not  having  the  ex- 
perience in  opening  up  of  such  mines,  will  be  able  to  learn 
much. 

I  went  without  a  drink  all  day,  to  be  able  to  fill  up  of 
that  sulphur  water  on  our  way  back  to  town.  I  cannot  say 
more  in  favor  of  any  water  than  that. 

There  are  some  things  in  connection  with  these  coal 
measures,  that  I  am  not  fully  satisfied  of,  and  will  have  a 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  1 7 

full  description  of  them,  as   I  can  learn  them,  for  a  future 
letter. 

This  much  I  can  say,  however,  they  are  of  immense 
commercial  value.  While  only  three  seams  have  been  opened 
and  really  tested,  I  am  satisfied  from  what  I  know  already, 
that  there  are  five  if  not  six  veins  all  told,  in  these  coal 
measure  formations. 


GUNNISON,    THE    BONANZA    COUNTY. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Fourth  of  July,   1882 — Washington   Gulch  and   Placer 
Mines  of  1859 — Elktown — Painter  Boy  and 
Silver  Jewell  Claims — Character 
of  Veins — Elk  Moun- 
tain House. 


Crested  Butte,  Gunnison  County,  Colorado,  July  4. — 
This  is  the  day  we  celebrate,  and  this  is  how  I  celebrate,  as 
I  saw  enough  powder  and  smoke  years  ago  to  last  the  bal- 
ance of  my  life.  On  being  told  that  there  was  gold  placer 
mining  between  six  and  eicrht  miles  from  this  town,  near 
the  head  of  Washington  gulch,  I  thought  it  might  be  of 
interest  to  myself  and  your  readers  if  I  looked  it  over;  es- 
pecially as  report  said  the  placer  was  worked  as  early  as 
i859-'6o,  and  more  or  less  continuously  since.  Passing 
along  the  Gothic  road  nearly  two  miles  from  town,  and 
through  the  first  toll-gate,  then  taking  the  first  road  north, 
you  enter  Washington  gulch.  It  is  one  of  the  mountain 
valleys  with  the  characteristics  peculiar  to  this  section,  and 
which  are  such  a  constant  supprise  to  one  only  accustomed 
to  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Rocky  mountain  system. 
Imagine  yourself  driving  along  a  fertile  valley  for  six  or 
seven  miles,  over  and  around  large  mounds  of  detritus 
from  the  coal  measures,  covered  with  luxuriant  mountain 
grass,  over  a  foot  high,  at  an  elevation  of  about  9,000  feet 
above  sea  level.  To  the  west  is  the  dividing  ridge  between 
Slate  river  and  Washington  gulch,  covered  with  a  heavy 
growth  of  timber  on  this  side,  suitable  for  mining  purposes 
from  bottom  to  summit,  and  covering  the  seams  of  coal, 
beds  of  sandstone  and  slate,  of  which  this  ridge  is  com 
posed.     To  the  east  is  the   connecting  link  between  Gothic? 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  I^ 

and  Crested  Butte  mountains,  an  outcropping  ridge  of 
granite  porphyry,  which  is  broken  through  in  two  places 
into  the  next  \-alley  east,  and  which  breaks  are  filled  with 
low  wet  ground,  making  a  rich  grassy  swale.  In  places, 
one  could  see  the  uneroded  shales  lying  against  the  erup- 
tive rock,  their  soft  bluish  tinge  making  a  pleasing  contrast 
to  the  colfd,  grayish-looking,  hard  rock  outcropping  above 
them.    \  .  fif  :,    .1 

Driving  along  an  excellent  road,  as  one  approaches 
the  head  of  the  gulch,  one  sees  buildings,  saw-mills  and 
other  improvements.  Amongst  these  I  shortly  arrived,  to 
learn  that  I  had  driven  to  Elktown,  the  headquarters  of  the 
Elk  Mountain  Consolidated  Mining  Company,  and  to  find 
out,  to  my  disgust,  that  I  had  paid  toll  to  travel  over  a 
road  on  which  the  toll-road  company  had  not  expended 
one  dollar,  but  the  excellence  and  entire  making  of  the 
road  was  due  to  this  mining  company.  I  consoled  myself 
with  the  fact  that  the  toll-road  is  owned  by  down-East 
parties.  I  hope  no  Colorado  man  would  do  such  a  thing 
as  this,  but  for  sweet  charity's  sake  let  us  think  that  the 
toll-gate  keeper  has  misunderstood  his  instructions,  that 
the  matter  will  be  corrected,  and  that  this  kind  of  road- 
agent's  work  will  be  stopped.  They  certainly  had  no 
right  to  charge  for  more  than  the  distance  between  Crested 
Butte  and  the  tpll-gate,  a  short  two  miles. 

Having  run  on  to  something  I  did  not  expect  and  in 
my  line,  I  speedily  introduced  myself  to  Mr.  M.  J.  Gray, 
manager,  finding  a  pleasant,  genial  gentleman  indeed,  and 
one  who  took  every  pains  to  give  me  all  the  information  I 
desired. 

I  learned  that  the  town,  saw-mills,  and  the  mines, 
seventeen  mines  in  number,  with  about  ^200,000  expended 
in  development  and  surface  improvements,  belongs  to  the 
mining  company.  Their  property  is  now  brought  up  to  a 
condition,  when  another  years'  careful  work  and  economical 


20  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

management  ought  to  place  the  property  on  a  dividend- 
paying  basis,  with  two  to  three  years'  working  expenses 
and  dividends  ahead  in  sight,  as  stoping  ground  opened.  The 
elevation  being  only  10,000  feet,  there  should  be  no  diffi- 
culty in  arranging  to  work  the  whole  year  through. 

The  Painter  Boy  and  Silver  Jewell  claims,  both  on  the 
one  vein,  show  the  most  ore  for  the  development.  They 
have  good  mine  buildings,  in  which  is  placed  the  hoisting 
power,  furnished  by  Hendrie  &  Bolthofif,  of  Denver. 

Developments  consist  of  a  main  hoisting  shaft  100 
feet  deep,  with  a  level  in  one  direction  of  100  feet,  and  in 
the  other  300  feet,  connecting  with  an  air  shaft  130  feet  to 
the  surface  on  the  next  claim.  Considerable  ore  has  been 
taken  from  this  development,  as  the  vein  is  fifteen  to 
twenty  feet  wide,  with  well  defined  walls,  porphyry  on  one 
side,  a  feldsite  with  some  silica  showing,  and  containing 
considerable  fine  iron  sulphides,  a  rock  I  like  to  see,  as  I 
know  what  it  means.  The  pay  streak  is  twenty-two  to 
twenty-four  inches  in  width,  and  I  was  informed  that  this 
width  would  average  ^200  per  ton  as  it  was  mined ;  that 
they  are  selecting  and  shipping  now  from  this  a  grade  that 
will  average  ;^500  per  ton  in  milling.  I  should  think  it 
might,  as  I  found  plenty  of  native  and  ruby  silver,  with 
silver-glance,  and  high  grade  galena  in  what  had  been 
thrown  out  as  third-class  ore.  I  should  Estimate  there  is 
at  least  100  tons  of  this  on  hand. 

The  gangue  of  this  vein  is  something  that  would 
make  the  heart  of  the  average  Cornish  miner  leap  for  joy 
on  contract  work,  being  calc-spar — the  easiest,  nicest  rock 
to  work  that  ever  a  drill  was  pounded  into. 

The  difference  of  hardness  between  calc-spar  and 
quartz  gangue  being  as  three  is  to  seven  in  the  mineralogi- 
cal  scale. 

From  what  I  saw  of  the  undeveloped  claims,  surface 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  21 

indications  mark  as  good  properties  yet  to  be  opened  as 
the  ones  I  have  described. 

There  has  been  some  1,900  feet  of  tunnel  work  done, 
but  if  with  any  practical  results,  I  think,  it  is  yet  to  be 
learned.  However,  this  little  spot  controlled  by  capitalists 
of  Topeka,  Kansas,  shows  a  geological  structure  that  is 
right,  and  appears  to  have  such  a  promising  future  that  I 
most  heartily  congratulate  the  owners.  I  drove  away  with 
the  feeling  that  I  had  seen  and  learned  something,  that  it 
was  a  real  pleasure  to  come  across. 

I  learned  that  I  had  passed  the  placer  ground,  and 
that  work  had  not  been  commenced  yet  this  season.  Was 
informed  that  the  gold  was  quite  coarse,  easily  saved,  and 
that  a  great  deal  of  value  had  been  obtained  in  past  years, 
without  the  ground  being  yet  exhausted. 

I  could  not  learn  that  any  gold  bearing  veins  had  yet 
been  discovered  in  the  locality,  the  fissures  yielding  only 
silver  so  far  as  opened,  and  not  to  exceed  a  half  ounce  of 
gold  to  the  ton.  I  cannot  conceive  that  the  wearing 
away  of  such  veins  could  give  the  quantity  of  placer  gold 
reported. 

Since  the  foregoing  trip,  I  made  a  flying  visit  to  the 
town  of  Irwin,  and  the  Forest  Queen  mine ;  but  found  this 
vicinity  so  much  more  developed,  so  much  more  to  see  and 
know  than  I  anticipated,  that  I  concluded  it  best  to  leave 
it  for  a  few  days,  until  I  could  give  it  the  time  and  care 
that  I  ought  to,  and  which  the  locality  deserves. 

Really  this  Elk  Mountain  House  surpasses  all  of  the 
mountain  hotels  that  I  have  ever  stopped  at.  I  have  just 
got  up  from  as  good  a  Fourth  of  July  dinner  as  I  ever  ate 
anywhere,  and  although  a  day  on  which  more  license  is 
generally  used  and  not  noticed,  than  on  most  other  days, 
here  every  thing,  with  a  crowded  house  is  so  orderly,  run- 
ning so  smoothly,  and  withal,  such  care  and  attention  given 
to  each  guest,  that  it  is  a  real  pleasure  to  speak  of  it. 


22  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Poverty  Gulch — Crest  of  Elk  Mountain  Range — Little 

Nell  Mining  Claim — Nearly  an  Accident — 

Lunch — Rainy  Weather. 


Crested  Butte,  Gunnison  County,  Colorado,  July 
7,  1882. — Since  my  last  letter,  I  have  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  visit  another  mining  section,  tributary  to 
Crested  Butte  as  a  shipping  point. 

On  July  5,  on  the  invitation  of  Mr.  J.  J.  Ellingham, 
formerly  sheriff  of  Boulder  County,  Colorado,  and  in  com- 
pany with  Mr.  F.  Dillingham,  of  the  Denver  Sampling  Works, 
we  started  from  this  town  on  horseback  to  see  the  wealth, 
present  and  prospective,  of  Poverty  gulch  and  basin.  The 
names  of  localities  in  this  section,  like  all  other  new 
places  in  Colorado,  are  quite  euphonious. 

We  rode  up  the  Slate  river  valley  to  Pittsburg — this 
part  of  the  country  I  have  already  described — but  from 
Pittsburg  on  up  the  gulch  the  territory  was  new  to  me. 
A  good  wagon  road  winds  up  the  rising  ground  of  the 
gulch,  as  far  as  it  is  practical  to  make  a  road  at  present. 
Then  after  crossing  the  stream  in  Poverty  gulch  the  trail 
ascends  quite  rapidly,  until  we  had  climbed  up  amongst 
patches  of  snow.  Selecting  a  spot  where  the  grass  had 
got  nicely  started,  we  picketed  our  horses,  concluding  that 
here  navigation  ended,  and  that  the  rest  of  the  way  must 
be  made  on  foot. 

A  ten  minutes'  further  climb  to  an  elevation  of 
1 1,500  feet  brought  us  to  the  tent  occupied  by  Mr.  John  T. 
Williams,  prospector  and  claim  owner,  who  was  formerly  in 
charge  of  the  Bull  Domingo  mine,  of  Custer  County, 
Colorado,  a  man  well  and  favorably  known  in  several  sec- 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  23 

tions  of  Colorado.  He,  with  his  men,  occupied  this  tent, 
and  not  far  from  this  elevation  he  had  put  in  the  winter. 

Taking  a  heart}'  lunch,  for  we  had  500  feet  higher  yet 
to  climb,  and  a  snow  field  of  at  least  a  third  of  a  mile  to 
cross,  four  of  us  set  out,  and  after'  one  got  at  it  and  used  to 
digging  the  toes  and  heels  into  the  soft  snow,  it  was  not  so 
bad,  as  we  angled  along  a  slope  of  at  least  45°,  where  if 
one  slipped,  the  descent  would  be  more  rapid  than  pleasant 
and  the  stopping  point — I  cannot  tell  whether  one  would 
halt  in. this  world  or  keep  right  on  to  the  next.  They  told 
of  a  burro  making  the  trip  with  a  load  on  him,  and  halting 
all  right  this  side  of  glory.  That  may  do  for  a  burro, 
especially  if  he  enjoys  it,  but  as  for  me,  I  prefer  to  keep 
the  trail. 

Over  the  snow  and  a  few  feet  up,  what  a  sight  and 
what  a  place.  I  stood  upon  a  crest  of  the  Elk  Mountain 
range,  not  over  twelve  feet  wide  and,  perhaps,  three-fourths 
of  a  mile  long.  Under  my  feet  was  the  beginning  of  the 
world  ;  that  is  archaen  granite  ;  within  a  stones  throw  was 
the  most  recent  formation  known  ;  what  an  eventful  history 
between  the  two.  I  stood  at  an  elevation  of  certainly  12,000 
feet  above  sea  level,  down  from  me,  on  each  side,  were 
sheer  precipices  of  300  feet  on  the  east  and  700  feet  to  the 
west. 

Raising  my  eyes  and  looking  westward,  I  viewed  a  vast 
reach  of  country,  of  valleys,  of  hills,  of  mountains  ;  grass- 
clothed,  forest-covered  and  snow-capped,  bounded  in  the 
distance  by  the  grand-looking  Wahsatch  range  of  Utah, 
and  all  of  the  unknown  wealth  of  a  new  country  between 
us.  Turning  to  the  east.  Crested  Butte  town,  nine  miles 
distant,  seemed  at  my  feet ;  on  down  the  Slate  river,  with 
its  tributaries,  to  its  junction  with  the  East  river,  up  the 
valley  of  the  Tomichi,  and  my  eyes  rested  upon  that  monu- 
ment of  the  world,  the  Colorado  Continental  Divide. 

We  did  not  come  entirely  to   look  at  scenery,  or  for 


24  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

the  benefit  of  our  health ;  so  at  the  word  from  WilHams,, 
who  took  the  lead,  we  went  over  the  west  side,  and  along: 
the  edge,  on  what  was  meant  for  a  trail,  and  which  can  be 
made  into  one.  Sometimes  down,  then  scrambling  up,, 
finally  arriving  at  a  dump  of  vein  or  crevice  material,  over 
which  we  climbed,  stirring  up  the  loose,  friable  stuff,  which 
as  we  tramped  upon  it  gave  out  a  strong  smell  of  sulphur,, 
and  no  bad  sign  dther  was  this  dump,  for  it  showed  from 
quantity  evidence  of  a  large  vein,  and  in  composition  an 
easy  material  to  work. 

At  last  we  stood  at  the  entrance  to  the  Little  Nell 
mining  claim,  a  property  that  is  attracting  considerable 
attention  in  this  locality  just  now. 

This  claim  was  located  in  i88i  and  has  several  open- 
ings on  it,  all  showing  ore  in  place,  principally  galena,  run- 
ning well  in  silver,  and  some  of  what  I  should  judge  was 
magnetic  iron  pyrites,  but  cannot  be  positive  without  a 
test.  We  visited  all  of  the  openings,  and  at  each  place 
found  a  large  showing  of  solid  ore  piled  out.  I  mean  a 
large  amount  of  ore  compared  to  the  amount  of  develop- 
ment, and  of  a  quality  on  which  I  was  assured  there  was  a 
round  profit  over  and  above  cost  of  mining,  shipping  and 
reducing,  which,  I  confess,  is  remarkable,  as  it  is  very  sel- 
dom that  such  a  grade  is  obtained  in  the  quantity  showing 
here  with  so  little  development. 

As  it  was  thought  necessary  for  me  to  go  over  the 
vein  surface  showing,  that  I  might  give  a  competent  opin- 
ion as  to  the  permanency  of  it  and  its  prospective  possi- 
bilities, we  prepared  to  start.  I  looked  up  an  angle  of  70° 
for  250  feet  to  the  mountain  crest,  along  a  sag  in  the  moun- 
tain side  marking  the  course  of  the  vein,  with  its  granite 
walls  standing  up  on  each  side  ;  then  turned  and  looked  down 
the  continuation  of  the  vein,  gradually  widening  between 
walls  as  shown  on  the  surface,  for  over  400  feet,  until  the 
vein  course,  and  walls  were  covered  in  the  detritus  below. 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  2$ 

I  had  selected  about  twenty-five  pounds  of  the  representa- 
tive material  of  this  vein  ;  the  sack  containing  it  I  slung  on 
my  back  and  up  we  started,  Ellingham  ahead,  myself  next, 
with  Mr.  Dillingham  and  Williams  following.  We  could 
only  scramble  a  few  feet  when  our  wind  would  give  out, 
and  we  had  to  stop  and  breathe  ;  somehow  or  other,  the 
capacity  of  one's  lungs  in  such  places  seems  to  be  too 
limited.  As  we  stopped  we  could  examine  the  crevice 
matter,  seeing  solid  galena  out-cropping,  accompanied  by 
the  decomposed  ores,  such  as  carbonates,  and  a  showing 
of  chloride. 

About  half  way  up,  I  was  nearly  the  cause  of  an  acci- 
dent that  at  the  time  made  my  heart  leap  into  my  throat. 
I  was  quite  heavily  loaded,  and  using  the  projecting  rocks 
to  assist  me  all  that  I  could,  I  reached  up  and  put  my  hand 
on  one  apparently  firm,  of  many  pounds  weight,  when  it 
started.  I  had  just  time  to  brace  myself,  try  to  hold  it,  and 
call  out  to  those  below,  wdio  succeeded  in  getting  to  one 
side,  as  I  had  to  let  it  go,  crashing  many  hundred  feet  down 
the  mountain.  I  tremble  now  to  think  what  might  have 
happened  had  I  not  had  the  presence  of  mind  and  strength 
to  do  as  I  did  at  the  moment. 

At  last  we  stood  upon  the  crest  again,  and  quite  thank- 
ful all  of  us  to  get  there  once  more,  except  Williams,  who 
appeared  to  take  everything  as  a  matter  of  course. 

I  can  assure  the  owners  of  this  mining  claim  that  they 
have  a  crevice  which  is  a  true  fissure,  cutting  the  granite 
crest  through  and  through ;  that  its  possibilities  are  not 
shown  yet,  as  I  could  not  see  that  either  wall  had  been 
reached  in  the  work  done,  but  an  out-cropping  ore  streak 
had  been  followed  in  the  development. 

When  a  vein  of  this  strength  shows  a  pay-streak,  with 
crevice  material  on  each  side,  my  experience  says  that  with 
development  other  and  additional  pay-streaks  will  also  be 
found.     They  assure  me  that  the  grade  now  is  profitable 


26  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

pay.  I  know  from  what  I  saw,  quantity  enough  could  be 
procured.  While  this  is  not  a  developed  country,  so  that 
there  is  anything  in  the  neighborhood  to  compare  possi- 
bilities of  development  with,  I  can,  in  this  country  rock,  feel 
safe  in  saying  that  from  what  I  know  of  similar  veins  in 
other  parts  of  Colorado  ;  the  owners  need  not  be  afraid  of 
pushing  development,  as  I  do  not  think,  from  what  I  saw, 
that  they  will  be  troubled  with  pinches  that  will  be  any 
detriment,  or  with,  what  is  known  in.  miners'  phraseology, 
a  "horse,"  that  will  cut  off  the  pay-streak  entirely,  as  oc- 
curs in  some  formations.  This  property  has  every  evi- 
dence, as  far  as  surface  showing  and  development  goes  at 
present,  of  being  made  in  the  future  a  valuable  producing 
mine. 

Having  a  little  time  left  in  which  to  gratify  my  natural 
curiosity,  I  espied  some  rocks  which  I  wanted  to  examine, 
Williams  saying  they  were  only  about  300  feet  off,  and, 
offering  to  go  with  me,  we  started.  I  will  bet — not  money 
— that  it  was  a  fourth  of  a  mile,  and  as  we  went  below 
the  crest,  we  had  afterwards  to  climb  200  feet  to  get  to  what 
I  wanted. 

I  found  it  was  contact  between  the  granite  and  another 
rock,  so  weathered  and  stained  that  I  am  not  sure  yet  of  its 
name  in  geology;  also  a  large  dike  of  feldsitic  porphyry 
filling  the  place  of  contact.  It  really  did  me  good  to  see 
here  the  porphyry  the  same,  as  I  find  it  in  Clear  Creek 
County,  and  the  granite  the  same  as  Boulder  County. 
These  rocks  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  connecting  link  between 
what  I  already  knew  and  that  which  I  am  striving  to  learn. 

We  went  back  along  the  crest,  and  in  a  nook  sheltered 
by  angular  masses  of  granite,  were  two  men  with  bellows 
and  the  requirements  of  an  out-door  blacksmith  shop, 
sharpening  tools.  I  am  not  surprised  at  anything  any 
more.  Of  course,  they  were  the  kind  of  men  that  have 
done  most  to  make  Colorado  what  she  is,  worthy  memberg 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONAN;iA  COUNTY.  2/ 

of  the  great  fraternity  of  prospectors.  May  success  attend 
their  efforts. 

We  found  that  the  rest  of  our  party,  tired  of  waiting, 
had  started  for  the  tent.  That  meant  "grub."  We  were 
hungry,  too,  and  hurried  along  the  crest  rapidly,  stepping 
on  angular  fragments  of  granite,  of  all  shapes  and  average 
sizes  of  cooking-stoves,  where  a  mis-step  or  slip  would — 
well,  it  made  no  difference  which  way  you  fell,  you  was 
sure  to  go  down  many  feet. 

About  half-wa}'  across  the  snow  field  one  of  our  com- 
rades who  had  preceded  us,  evidently,  had  suddently  con- 
ceived the  idea  that  he  was  a  boy  again,  and  had  went 
down  the  snow-slope  the  same  as  he  had  used  the  cellar- 
door  in  boyhood  days;  there  was  his  mark  in  the  snow. 
He  said  afterward  he  did  it  for  fun.  He  has  been  in  Colo- 
rado over  twenty  years,  and  those  of  my  readers  who  per- 
sonally know  him,  will  know  how  much  reliance  can  be 
placed  in  his  statement. 

At  the  tent  we  found  hot  coffee,  hot  bread  and  ham, 
and  a  dish  of — I  am  not  up  in  cookery  and  cannot  name  it, 
but  it  was  mighty  good  anyhow,  and  to  it  all  we  did  ample 
justice.  Williams'  cellar  is  in  the  snow-bank,  just  across 
from  the  tent.  As  the  snow  melts  he  keeps  moving  the 
door  of  the  cellar  across  the  gulch  after  the  snow-bank. 

I  must  go  up  to  this  locality  again,  as,  in  a  space  of 
less  than  a  mile  square,  I  saw  more  varieties  of  rock  than  I 
ever  before  saw  crowded  into  the  same  space ;  and  when 
Nature  starts  in  to  make  a  geological  museum,  I  want  to 
paw  over  the  rocks. 

As  we  saddled  and  started  homewards,  it  began  to 
rain  heavily.  (They  say  this  is  the  dry  season  here).  It 
has  rained  hard  some  part  of  each  twenty-four  hours  that  I 
have  been  here,  and  we  did  get  soaking  wet.  Arriving  at 
the  hotel  at  8:30  p.  M.,as  I  tumbled  off  my  horse,  cold,  wet 
through,  sore  and  stiff,  I  was  conscious  that  I  had  seen  and 
learned  something  new,  and  in  my  way  had  enjoyed  a  good 
time. 


28  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 


CHAPTER  V. 


Iron     Swamp — Irwin — Pioneer    Mill — Forest    Queen 

Mine. 


Irwin,  Gunnison  County,  July  14. — Since  writing  my 
last  letter,  I  have  been  under  the  weather  a  couple  of  days, 
probably  the  result  of  over-exertion,  and  was  compelled  to 
keep  quiet.  However,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  nth  instant, 
I  felt  like  trying  myself,  and  struck  out  for  a  three-mile 
walk  on  the  Irwin  road,  to  what  is  locally  known  as  the 
"Iron  Swamp."  Across  this  swamp  the  road  has  been 
made,  by  laying  down  heavy  sticks,  and  corduroy  wagon 
way  on  top  of  them.  The  geological  formation  shows  con- 
tact between  the  sedimentary  rocks,  or  coal  measures,  and 
the  granite  porphyry.  Possibly  an  eroded  basin,  with  an 
ore  body  filling  the  place  of  contact,  showing  near  the  up- 
per part  of  the  basin,  while  the  lower  part,  toward  Coal 
creek,  the  line  of  drainage  is  filled  with  gravel.  In  most 
recent  times  waters  flowing  from  the  upper  part  of  the 
swamp  have  been  very  heavily  charged  with  iron,  which  is 
deposited  over  the  gravel  three  to  four  feet  thick.  Some 
of  this  is  claimed  to  give,  in  laboratory  tests,  60  per  cent, 
of  iron.  I  could  not  learn  if  it  carried  other  value  or  not. 
The  running  water  draining  from  this  swamp,  now  stains 
the  logs  and  stones  of  the  dull  red  color  of  some  mineral 
paints.  If  this  property  is  ever  worked  and  properly  de- 
veloped, I  rather  imagine  a  different  ore  body,  of  very  dif- 
ferent material  and  value,  will  be  found  in  place  than  what 
the  surface  shows  at  present. 

I  had  collected  about  forty  pounds  of  specimens,  and 
felt  rather  played  out,  when  a  wagon  came  along  that  gave 
me  the  chance  of  a  ride  to  Irwin.     As  it  was  a  question  of 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  29 

walking  back  to  Crested  Butte,  tired  out  as  I  was,  or  rid- 
ing to  where  there  was  something  I  wanted  to  see,  and 
where  I  could  spend  four  or  five  days  to  advantage,  it  did 
not  take  me  long  to  decide,  and,  of  course,  in  favor  of  the 
ride. 

Arriving  here  about  supper  time,  I  found  several  ac- 
quaintances, whom  I  have  known  more  or  less  of  since  I 
have  been  in  the  State,  and  especially  the  gentlemen  con- 
nected with  the  Forest  Queen  mine,  the  bonanza  of  the 
Ruby  Mining  District. 

Irwin  is  a  mining  town,  pleasantly  situated  at  an  ele- 
vation of  9,750  feet  above  sea  level,  a  place  which,  if 
there  was  a  little  more  attention  paid  to  the  streets  and 
their  condition,  could  be  made  a  handsome  mountain  town. 
Comparatively  speaking,  it  is  young  yet,  being  wholly  the 
out-growth  of  the  discovery  and  out-put  of  the  Forest 
Queen  in  1879,  with  many  subsequent  rich  discoveries  in 
a  radius  of  five  miles,  helping  to  make  up  the  whole.  It  is 
the  supply  point  of  as  rich  a  mining  district  as  is  known 
anywhere  over  the  range,  with  a  population  at  present  of 
over  2,000,  and  which,  in  the  next  thirty  days,  I  am  as- 
sured will  be  doubled.  Owing  to  the  lateness  of  the  season 
this  year,  very  many  who  put  in  the  season  here  actively 
working,  have  not  returned  yet,  but  will  put  in  an  appear- 
ance soon,  besides  bringing  many  new  men  with  them,  so 
that  a  few  weeks'  time  will  make  every  difference  in  work 
done,  and  in  that  time  the  surrounding  mountain  basins 
will  be  resounding  with  the  explosions  of  powder  and 
rending  rocks,  while  Irwin,  as  a  supply  point  for  a  rich 
mining  district,  will  show  the  bustle  and  activity  of  busi- 
ness that  it  deserves. 

There  are  two  or  three  good  hotels  here,  chief  among 
them  being  the  Windsor. 

There  are  school  houses,  a  neat  little  church,  and  more 
business  houses  by  far  than  Crested  Butte,  although  that 


30  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

is  the  shipping  point  that  Irwin  is  tributary  to.  My  first 
visit  was  to  the  mill  built  by  the  Goodenough  Mining 
Company,  under  the  supervision  of  Professor  (?)  Jacobs,  and 
like  many  of  the  Professors  's  (?)  experiments,  turned  out 
to  be  an  expensive  one  for  the  men  who  furnished  the 
money.  It  does  seem  too  bad  that  such  men  do  (and 
always  will)  find  men  with  means  who  will  advance 
money  for  the  most  impracticable  operations  in  connec- 
tion with  mining,  the  result  of  which  is  failure  and  loss. 
If  the  whole  loss  fell  upon  the  men  conducting  such 
enterprises,  it  would  not  be  so  bad ;  but,  the  worst  part  lies 
in  the  fact  that  the  failure  acts  disastrously  on'  the  sur- 
rounding camp  and  other  investnients.  It  is  also  used 
as  a  means  of  ill  to  the  locality  by  the  very  men  who 
have  caused  the  failure,  and  whose  only  claim  to  public 
notice  is  their  burden  of  conceit,  ignorance  and  stupidity. 
Graduating  with  these  talents,  they  may  rightly  be  styled 
"Professors." 

This  mill  is  now  represented  in  ownership  by  Mr. 
Marshall  Webb,  of  New  York  City;  and  one  must  really 
admire  this  gentleman's  pluck  in  trying  to  make  the 
best  of  what  has  been  done.  The  mill  is  now  being  re- 
modeled so  that  sampling  can  be  done  and  ores  pur- 
chased, making  a  cash  market  at  home  for  ores  produced 
in  this  neighborhood.  This  is  what  all  mining  camps  need 
first,  a  cash  market  at  home,  so  that  a  prospector  with  only 
his  labor  and  locations  for  capital,  can  turn  the  results  pro- 
duced into  cash,  be  it  500  or  5,000  pounds  of  ore,  and  with 
that  money  can  hire  labor  and  so  produce  the  larger 
amounts  afterwards,  thus  making  a  steady,  direct  and  bene- 
ficial result  to  a  mining  section.  The  very  money  that 
is  often  tied  up  in  impracticable  reduction  works,  in  par- 
tially developed  districts,  will  more  than  furnish  the 
capital  for  the  business,  and  the  chances  of  profit  to  the 
capitalist,  with  only  a  sampling  mill,  are  very  great,  as  the 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  3  I 

business  is  cash  throughout.  His  margins  of  profit  are 
three  to  five  dollars  per  ton  for  crushing  and  sampling, 
and  an  inside  rate  of  freight  that  the  single  shipper  of  small 
amounts  cannot  get.  Also,  he  can,  on  large  contracts 
with  the  heavier  plants  for  reduction,  get  a  fair  reduction 
in  cost  of  treating  the  ores  he  purchases.  It  does  make 
me  sore  as  I  visit  different  parts  of  the  State  and  see 
capital  tied  up,  that,  in  other  channels,  might  be  used 
profitably  for  the  capitalist  and  for  the  benefit  of  the  dis- 
trict as  a  whole. 

Mr.  Webb  is  to  be  congratulated  that  he  has  taken  a 
step  in  the  right  direction,  and  deserves  the  thanks  of  this 
district  in  showing  that  he  is  trying  to  meet  the  real  needs 
of  the  locality. 

The  mill  is  a  fine  large  one,  well  arranged  in  some 
particulars,  and  furnished  with  far  better  machinery  than  I 
expected  to  find.  Under  the  guidance  of  Mr.  Charles  But- 
ters, who  is  in  charge,  I  went  through  the  building.  To 
his  kindness  I  am  indebted  for  the  following  particulars  : 
The  mill  is  furnished  with  a  stationary  engine,  double  cyl- 
inder, capacity  of  lOO  horse  power,  manufactured  by  the 
Buckeye  Engine  Company,  of  Salem,  Ohio.  It  is  a  model 
of  workmanship.  The  boiler,  with  more  than  the  power 
of  the  engine,  is  one  of  Babcock  &  Wilcox's  best  make, 
one  of  Blake's  largest  size  ore  breakers,  capacity  of  five 
tons  per  hour,  a  ten-stamp  battery  for  dry  stamping,  a  re- 
volving cylinder  for  drying  ore,  furnished  by  the  Frazer  «& 
Chalmers,  of  Chicago,  two  revolving  chloridizing  furnaces, 
capacity  four  tons  each  per  twenty-four  hours  built  by 
Morey  &  Sperry,  improved  Union  Amalgamating  Pans, 
capacity  twenty-five  tons  per  twenty-four  hours,  make  up 
the  bulk  of  the  plant. 

The  modus  operandi,  as  I  understand  it,  is  briefly  this  : 
From  the  ore-bins  to  the  crusher,  then  to  the  rolls  where 
the  ore  is  sampled  and  paid  for.     After  that  to  the  revolv- 


.  32  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

ing  drying  kiln,  thence  to  the  stamps  automatically  fed, 
where  it  is  reduced  to  a  grade  of  forty  mesh  or  finer,  from 
there  along  an  ore  channel  to  an  elevator.  The  powdered 
material  is  carried  up  and  dumped  into  ore-bins  over  the 
chloridizing  furnaces,  into  which  the  material  passes  with 
a  sufficient  amount  of  salt  to  make  the  silver  contained  in 
the  ore,  free  milling.  These  furnaces  revolve  and  a  strong 
draft  passes  through  them  (I  do  not  like  that ;  there  is  too 
rnuch  chance  for  loss) ;  being  sufficiently  roasted  here,  the 
charge  is  dumped  upon  an  open  hearth,  there  to  remain 
several  hours,  then  shoveled  into  ore  cars  furnished  with  a 
track  across  the  mill  floor,  out  of  them  to  the  amalgamat- 
ing pans.  From  these  the  amalgam  will  be  collected  and 
reduced  in  a  furnace  recently  constructed  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Mr.  Butters.  It  is  capable  of  receiving  a  charge  of 
over  1,500  pounds  of  amalgam.  Attached  is  a  model 
furnace  with  muffles  for  assay  purposes. 

We  visited  the  weighing  room,  which  is  a  type  of  neat- 
ness, well  lighted  and  furnished  with  a  number  of  improved 
scales  and  balances  of  various  sizes. 

Mr.  Butters  tells  me  that  he  takes  the  mill  as  he  finds 
it,  and  will  do  the  best  he  can  with  what  is  at  hand,  adding 
as  little  expense  as  possible.  One  can  see  the  difficulties 
he  labors  under  in  getting  started,  as  owing  to  the  in- 
capacity of  former  men,  the  foundations  of  parts  of  the  mill 
were  not  made  substantial  enough,  so  that  some  of  the 
machinery  has  to  be  re-set,  shafting  relined  and  adjusted, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  vexatious  delay  of  receiving  parts  of 
machinery  ordered,  which  are  to  be  used  in  the  sampling 
of  the  ores,  and  which  machinery  is  now  being  put  to  place 
and  adjusted,  with  a  prospect  of  starting  in  a  few  days. 

Mr.  Butters  is  confident  that  he  can  treat  the  ores  pro- 
duced here  successfully  in  the  above  described  method.  I 
sincerely  hope  he  will,  .as  it  will  solve  one  of  the  knotty 
questions  of  ore  reduction,  and  his  success  will  reflect  much 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  33 

honor  and  credit  upon  him.  The  sampling  and  purchase 
of  the  ores,  I  know,  can  be  made  a  profitable  success. 

The  ore  bins  of  this  mill  are  now  full  of  ore,  princi- 
pally from  the  Forest  Queen,  which  is  making  a  large  out- 
put; ore  is  being  produced  in  quantities  from  five  different 
places  in  the  mine. 

From  the  mill  to  the  Forest  Queen  is  not  much  of  a 
walk,  and  being  the  best  developed  as  well  as  the  oldest 
mine  of  the  camp,  it,  of  course,  merited  attention  first.  I 
learn  its  history  to  be  briefly  this:  The  property  was 
discovered  in  1879,  purchased  by  the  brothers,  Harold  and 
L.  R.  Thompson,  for  ;$40,ooo,  who  organized  a  private 
company,  associating  with  themselves  such  men  as  D.  C. 
Dodge,  R.  W.  Woodbury,  Mr.  Woodward,  of  Denver; 
William  T.  Holt  and  other  gentlemen  of  like  reputation 
and  means.  The  first  year's  product  of  the  Forest  Queen 
was  over  ^40,000,  the  shipping  ores  netting  ^350  to  ;^  1,080 
per  ton  in  Denver  and  Pueblo,  over  and  above  the  very  ex- 
pensive cost  of  transportation  and  treating  of  those  days. 
This  gave  the  mine  a  reputation  the  country  over,  aside 
from  the  remarkable  specimens  of  ruby  and  native  silver 
that  were  distributed  all  through  the  East  in  various  ways. 

The  winter  of  '79  and  '80  found  the  country  new  and 
still  unprepared  for  active  prosecution  of  work  during  the 
winter  season.  What  work  could  be  done,  however,  was 
vigorously  pushed,  drifts  run  from  the  bottom  of  a  sixty- 
foot  surface  shaft  each  way,  some  of  the  pay  stoped  out ; 
while  at  the  same  time  a  tunnel  was  started  on  the  ore 
face,  at  the  end  and  lowest  part  of  the  claim.  Here  they 
had  excellent  pay  for  a  time,  but  passed  it.  In  the  sixty- 
foot  shaft  it  was  apparently  gone,  cut  off;  at  the  end  of  one 
drift  it  was  pinched,  at  the  other  the  ore  had  apparently  dis- 
appeared, and  from  this  the  story  went  abroad  for  a  time 
that  the  Forest  Queen  had  lost  her  vein,  and  gave  the 
Ruby  Mining  District  a  temporary   "black   eye."     It  cer- 


34  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

tainly  has  been  temporary,  for  the  mine  now  is  taking  out 
an  average  often  tons'per  day,  which  amount  in  the  next 
sixty  days  can  be  trebled  if  it  is  desirable,  proving  that  the 
vein  and  ore  is  there  all  right,  and  in  larger  quantities,  as 
well  as  of  more  value  per  ton  than  the  owners  allowed 
themselves  to  hope  for. 

As  I  was  allowed  free  run  of  everything,  I  prefer  to 
state  what  I  have  seen  myself,  draw  my  own  deductions  of 
the  future,  and  try  to  plainly  place  before  my  readers 
things  as  they  are  now,  rather  than  to  take  up  and  point 
out  the  errors  that  have  occurred,  and  which  all  realize 
and  can  understand  now.  For  it  must  be  remembered  that 
here  was  a  formation  of  country  rock  that  was  entirely  new 
to  all  miners,  a  rock,  the  formation  and  characteristics  of 
which  are  peculiar  to  itself 

The  mine  is  now  working  something  over  forty  men, 
under  the  direction  of  the  lessees  of  the  surface  ores,  under 
contracts  for  driving  levels  in  connection  with  the  tunnel, 
and  others  in  the  direct  employ  of  the  company  at  so  much 
per  day. 

The  surface  of  the  claim  measures  i,ooo  feet  along  the 
course  of  the  vein,  by  265  feet  in  width,  and  whenever  I 
could  get  on  to  a  part  of  the  walls  in  place,  I  found  it  car- 
ried a  regular  dip  approximating  45°  to  the  southeast,  the 
course  of  the  vein  being  about  northeast  and  southwest. 

At  the  time  of  my  visit  I  found  Mr.  L.  R.  Thompson, 
part  owner  and  lessee  from  the  company  of  the  surface 
ores,  seated  alongside  of  a  ten-foot  hole,  out  of  which  a 
couple  of  men  were  handing  out  large  chunks  of  ore,  on 
which  Thompson  was  exercising  himself  with  a  hammer, 
breaking  the  ore  in  sizes  suitable  for  sacking.  I  saw  him 
break  lumps  of  150  pounds  and  over  full  of  ruby  silver, 
that  would  go  anywhere  from  ^500  to  $5,000  per  ton,  and 
as  he  rammed  the  pieces  into  a  sack,  he  appeared  to  be  full 
of  remarks  suitable  to  the  occasion.     To  a  "specimen  fiend" 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  35 

like  myself,  it  was  awful  to  see  such  beautiful  specimens 
about  to  go  through  a  mill ;  but  what  does  the  average 
mine-owner  know  about  the  ^sthetical  part  of  the  busi- 
ness? The  stuff  that  he  threw  to  one  side,  as  of  not  high 
enough  grade  to  have  treated  at  present,  would  make  the 
.average  mine-owner  green  with  envy. 

Just  above  this  spot  is  an  old  opening  of  1879  from 
which  surface  pay  ore  was  taken.  I  looked  at  it.  The  ore 
was  east  of  the  porphyry,  and  the  other  opening  I  speak  of, 
had  the  same  formation.  I  went  down  the  sixty-foot  shaft, 
along  the  south  drift  seventy-five  feet,  over  piles  of  ore 
waiting  to  be  hoisted  up,  to  the  end  where  the  pinch  oc- 
curred, and  found  the  ore  streak  about  four  inches  wide, 
the  ore  west  of  the  porphyry.  Within  fifteen  feet  of  this, 
understoping  was  being  done  on  the  face  of  over  three 
feet  of  ore.  I  looked  at  the  eighty-five  foot  drift  west 
from  this  level  into  the  barren  sandstone  or  country 
rock ;  right  opposite  is  the  thirty-eight  foot  cross-cut, 
which  was  finally  started  in  the  right  direction,  east,  going 
through  crevnce  matter  more  or  less  mineralized,  until  the 
mineral  became  strong  enough  to  be  a  regular  pay  streak. 
This  has  been  drifted  upon  130  feet  north,  and  the  ore  is 
west  of  the  porphyry.  I  went  into  the  old  north  drift  from 
this  shaft  eighty  feet,  and  saw  where  the  pay  still  stood 
along  the  east  line  of  the  drift.  This  shaft  was  sunk 
down  120  feet  further,  and  not  sufficient  allowance  being 
made  for  the  dip  of  the  vein,  every  foot  of  depth  carried  it 
that  much  further  from  the  pay.  After  the  re-discovery  in 
the  east  cross-cut  above  mentioned,  another  cross-cut  was 
run  from  the  shaft  at  a  depth  of*  120  feet  from  the  surface, 
a  distance  of  sixty-five  feet,  and  nearly  twenty  feet  of  pay 
ore  was  cut.  The  ore  is  west  of  the  porphyry.  At  the 
bottom  of  the  shaft,  180  feet  from  the  surface,  it  took 
5eventy-two  feet  to  cross-cut  to  the  ore,  and  the  ore  is  still 
^vest  of  the  porphyry. 


36  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

In  company  with  Mr.  Frank  Winters,  whom  I  have 
known  for  some  time,  and  who  now  has  charge  of  the  con- 
tract work,  etc.,  in  the  lower  or  tunnel  workings,  I  visited 
this  part  of  the  ground. 

Frank  is  a  practical  miner  and  a  hard  worker,  one 
who  sees  much  that  escapes  the  notice  of  others,  evidently 
the  right  man  in  the  right  place,  and  also  has  the  honor  of 
firing  the  first  shots  in  the  right  direction,  viz:  in  the  upper 
east  cross-cut. 

When  this  tunnel  was  started  much  and  good  pay  was 
taken  out,  and  it  is  now  being  done  from  the  surface  over 
the  tunnel  entrance,  where  over  four  feet  of  ore  is  being 
stripped,  and  showing  a  large  percentage  of  ruby  silver. 
The  tunnel,  when  necessary,  is  well  timbered,  a  nice  grade 
and  track  makes  the  complement  for  working.  It  is  in  a 
distance  of  535  feet;  a  cross-cut  from  here  reaches  the  ore 
body,  which  has  been  drifted  south  on  for  a  distance  of  130 
feet,  and  the  work  still  going;  also  drifted  north  on  for 
fifty  feet,  a  cross-cut  here  west  in  crevice  material  of  twenty 
feet  brought  them  to  the  real  sandstone  footwall,  showing 
regular  and  in  place,  with  its  dip  of  45°.  Following  a 
large  pay  streak  north  along  this  wall  for  135  feet,  regular 
almost  the  whole  of  the  way  as  a  line,  it  gives  the  impres- 
sion that  here  everything  is  in  place.  From  the  workings 
here  the  whole  vein  formation  can  in  time  be  proved.  The 
last  few  feet  in  this  drift  shows  a  sandstone  "horse,"  which 
has  caused  the  ore  body  to  leave  the  footwall  and  deflect 
into  the  crevice  material  eastward.  At  this  point  a  cross- 
cut has  been  started  east  through  the  porphyry,  now  in 
twenty  feet,  and  which,  if  carried  right  on  through  the 
porphyry,  I  consider  the  most  valuable  piece  of  develop- 
ment in  the  whole  mine,  as  it  will  prove  everything,  and 
show  that  the  only  fault  in  working  was  occasioned  by 
those  in  charge  not  realizing,  until  very  recently,  the  enor- 
mous size  of  this  fissure,  and  its  possible  showing  in   value. 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTV.  3/ 

To  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Ira  Brown,  superintendent  and 
in  charge  for  some  time  past  of  the  active  working  of  the 
mine  for  the  company,  I  am  indebted  for  the  permission  to 
sketch  the  workings,  and  who  kindly  corrected  the  meas- 
urements that  I  might  construct  the  geology  of  this  vein, 
and  which  I  find  to  be  as  follows: 

The  country  rock  is  granite-porphyry,  overlaid  with 
sedimentary  rocks,  or  recent  coal-measures,  many  hundreds 
of  feet  in  thickness.  Following  this  were  recent  volcanic 
eruptions  (I  am  informed  of  lava  outcrops  a  few  miles 
southwest  showing  in  place),  which  fissured  this  country 
rock,  the  fissures  breaking  through  the  over-lying  sedimen- 
tary rocks.  Their  composition  being  alternating  layers  of 
shales,  coals  and  sandstones,  all  soft  and  friable,  they  fis- 
sured without  any  resistance  that  would  displace  them. 
Some  of  these  fissures  were  of  large  size,  allowing  the  pas- 
sage to  the  surface  of  the  eruptive  paste,  which  makes  a 
portion  now  of  the  true-fissure  vein  filling,  is  recognized  as 
feldsitic  porphyry,  and  which  is  always  more  or  less  min- 
eralized. So  much  for  generalities;  now  we  come  to  the 
Forest  Queen  surface.  Where  large  bodies  of  mineral 
occur,  a  trough  along  the  vein  will  show,  or  if  large  enough 
over  the  largest  bodies  of  ore  in  the  vein,  a  basin  will  be 
formed.  This  occurs  from  the  oxidization  of  the  sulphides, 
and  the  subsequent  erosion  of  the  surface  material  from 
meteoric  agencies.  The  Forest  Queen  basin  of  this  kind 
is  the  largest  I  have  ever  seen.  Now  take  into  considera- 
tion the  character  of  the  country  rock  along  this  crevice; 
it  is  soft,  friable  and  easily  eroded,  w^iich  would  lead  one  to 
look  for  fragments  of  sandstone,  metamorphosed  to  a 
quartzite  in  the  vein  material,  also  pieces  of  shale  changed 
to  a  slate ;  both  of  these  are  found,  and  their  breaking  off 
has  contributed  to  the  surface  enlargement  of  the  fissure. 
It  will   not  be   surprising,  as   the   workings  gain  depth,  to 


38  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

find  fragments  of  coal  with  native  silver  attached  in  the 
crevice  matter.     I  am  confident  there  will  be. 

Now,  having  learned  the  structure  of  the  fissure  and 
the  country  rock,  it  is  not  surprising  that  several  slips, 
slides  and  displacements  of  the  ore  bodies  have  occurred 
for  a  depth  of  sixty  to  lOO  feet,  and  in  large  bodies,  as  the 
surrounding  country  rock  was  eroded  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent  along  the  vein  or  crevice  in  places.  That  in  a  vein 
of  this  width  it  would  be  reasonable  to  expect  a  good-pay 
ore  body  along  each  wall  in  place,  and  several  ore  streaks 
or  stringers  of  large  size  will  also  be  contained  in  the  por- 
phyry, and  that  the  whole  of  the  crevice  material,  after  300 
feet  in  depth,  will  pay  to  treat  by  some  method.  In  fact,, 
it  would  require  careful  picking  now  to  find  rock  that  will 
not  assay  ;^20  per  ton. 

Part  of  the  above  statement  has  already  been  proved 
to  be  true,  and  any  one  can  see  it  now. 

The  present  cross-cut  in  the  north  drift  at  tunnel  level 
will  prove  the  width  of  the  crevice,  and,  which  I  believe 
from  what  I  have  seen,  to  be  over  100  feet.  It  will  also 
prove  the  existence  of  an  east  ore  body  which  has  never 
been  seen  in  the  lower  workings,  and  which,  I  maintain  in 
a  crevice  of  this  width  ought  to  be  there,  and  which  exists 
in  similar  veins  that  I  have  examined  in  other  parts  of  the 
State. 

As  depth  is  gained,  from  what  I  have  learned  of  the 
surrounding  country,  between  600  and  1,000  feet  the  crev- 
ice will  pass  out  of  the  sedimentary  rocks  into  the  true 
country  rock — granite  porphyry — here  it  may  be  expected 
the  fissure  will  narrow,  but  with  no  diminution  in  quantity 
or  quality  of  ore.  The  quality,  I  firmly  believe,  will  in- 
crease, as  in  the  change  of  country  rock  the  gangue  ought 
to  change  from  silica  to  calc-spar.  This  will  carry  more 
native  silver  and  silver  glance  than  now  shows,  as  well  as 
the  ruby  silver  holding  its  own. 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  39 

This  mine  now  shows  more  ore  of  high  grade  in  silver 
than  any  other  mine  in  the  State.  Mr.  Dilhngham  told  me 
after  a  visit  here  a  few  days  ago,  that  he  had  seen  more 
ruby  silver  together  at  once  than  in  the  whole  of  his  exper- 
ience before  in  purchasing  ores.  .  I  can  say  the  same,  and 
I  am  assured  that  the  showing  now  is  far  beyond  what  it 
was  a  few  days  ago.  As  I  write  I  can  look  out  of  the  door 
and  see  two  lumps  of  ore  of  several  hundred  pounds  weight, 
intended  by  Mr.  Thompson  for  the  Denver  Exposition, 
full  of  rub}-  and  native  silver,  and  in  such  quantity  as  the 
bulk  of  mankind  never  saw  before. 

No  man  can  compute  the  value  ot  the  future  output  of 
this  mine,  in  this  piece  of  ground  265x1,000  feet  of  surface 
and  unknown  depth.  That  a  large  percentage  in  value  of 
the  National  debt  will  come  out  of  this  space  I  fully  realize. 

To  the  courtesy  of  the  gentlemen  here  in  charge  I  am 
under  great  obligations  for  the  opportunity  to  examine  and 
lay  before  my  readers  a  description  as  above,  of  what  I 
believe  will  prove  to  be  the  largest  producing  silver  fissure 
vein  now  known  in  the  State. 

There  is  much  more  to  be  learned  and  said  of  the 
mines  of  this  district,  of  which  Irwin  is  the  centre,  and  as  I 
learn  it  I  shall  take  pleasure  in  laying  facts,  as  I  know  them 
personally,  before  my  readers. 


40  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


Elk  Basin — Geology — Elk  and  Micawber  Claim — Ruby 
Gulch— Oaks  Claim— O-be-Joyful  Gulch— A  Pecu- 
liar Vein — Conglomerate — Anthracite  Coals  of 
Irwin  —  Flowers  —  Bituminous    Coals    of 
Ohio    Creek — Lava    Eruption — Castle 
Rocks  —  Gunnison  City — Gypsum 
—  Senator  Hill's  Ute  Reserva- 
tion Bill— Natural  Wealth 
of  Irwin— Justice  Basin 
— Redwell  Basin — 
Peculiar      Spring 
and   Results, 
Etc..    Etc. 


Irwin,  Gunnison  County,  Colo.,  July  30. — It  is  just 
two  weeks  to-day  since  I  mailed  my  letter,  in  which  the 
Forest  Queen  was  described.  In  that  time  I  have  traveled 
over  considerable  territory  in  this  immediate  neighbor- 
hood, seeing  much  that  is  good,  but,  of  course,  not  meeting 
with  mining  properties  showing  the  development  of  the 
mine  named  above,  nor  having  indications  of  as  large  ore 
bodies.  Even  in  this  universally  rich  district  the  mines  on 
development  cannot  all  be  Forest  Queens. 

I  was  very  much  interested  in  my  first  short  trip,  after 
my  last  letter,  in  visiting  Elk  basin,  within  three  miles  of 
Irwin,  where  I  went  under  the  guidance  of  Mr.  T.  Owen, 
who  located  the  Elk  lode  claim  and  named  the  basin.  The 
approach  from  Irwin  is  up  past  the  Forest  Queen,  through 
the  woods  north,  past  a  small  lake,  around  by  the  Venango 
mine  and  Belmont  Consolidated  Company's  work,  then  up 
the  gulch  with  an  easy  ascent,  until  a  height  of  1 1,000  feet 
above  sea  level  is  reached,  and  you  are  in  one  of  the  repre- 
sentative mining  localities  that  this  region  abounds  in,  viz: 
Elk   basin.    Here  the  geology  of  the  territory  is   beauti- 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  4 1 

fully  illustrated,  as  surrounding  in  all  directions  is 
the  real  country  rock,  granite  porpln-ry;  except  in  the 
direction  of  the  basin's  outlet,  nearly  east,  towering  up 
several  hundred  feet  high  in  places,  some  parts  of  it 
still  covered  with  the  strata  of  sedimentary  rocks,  build- 
ing up  higher  still.  These  two  kinds  of  illustrative  rocks 
here,  show  the  great  depths  of  the  gorges  existing  at 
one  time  among  mountains  of  utterly  barren  eruptive 
rock,  which  shortly  after  forming  must  have  been  elevated 
above  the  waters.  I  cannot  reason  otherwise,  from  what 
appears  to  have  occurred,  but  that  this  enormous  eruption 
of  granite  porphyry  took  place  at  great  depths  in  the 
ocean.  Then  at  the  feet  of  these  rough,  jagged  crests, 
in  quite  shallow  waters,  commenced  the  building  of  the 
coal  measures  of  this  Crested  Butte  basin.  The  real 
foundation  was  not  settled  yet,  but  gradually  and  verj- 
slowly  sank,  making  but  slight  changes  at  a  time  in  shore 
depths,  but  each  change  of  level  is  now  distinctly  drawn 
by  the  alternating  strata  of  coal,  shales,  or  sandstones, 
repeated  many  times.  The  territory  occupied  by  this 
coal  basin  represents  a  local  and  limited  area,  as  I  can 
find  no  change  made  in  the  material  used  in  building 
these  sedimentar}'  rocks  until  about  1,500  feet  in  thick- 
ness of  these  coal  measure  sediments  had  been  deposited. 
Then  came  a  change,  showing  that  a  larger  area  of  sur- 
face was  being  acted  upon ;  as  here  in  Elk  basin,  for  the 
first  tirtie  in  place,  I  found  sandstone  conglomerate 
at  an  elevation  of  11,000  feet.  I  reasoned  that 
the  subsidence  to  this  depth  was  confined  to  a 
limited  area,  as  when  this  conglomerate  appears,  in 
addition  to  containing  pebbles  from  the  rocks  near  by, 
it  also  has  in  one  horizon  a  beautiful  red  jasper  peb- 
ble, very  hard,  but  worn  perfectly  smooth,  some  of 
them  quite  small,  showing  that  they  had  beat  about  a 
long  time  in  the  ocean's  waters  and  traveled  very  much 


42  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

farther  than  the  other  fragments  associated  with  them. 
Here  also  with  this  conglomerate,  in  place,  I  found  frag- 
ments of  petrified  woods.  In  one  large  piece  the  replac- 
ing material  is  iron  instead  of  silica.  It  was  here  that 
I  realized  that  the  total  depth  of  these  sedimentary^  rocks 
now  approaches  2,500  feet  in  thickness,  building  up  over 
all  of  the  mountains  of  granite  porphyry  to  a  total  height 
that  we  cannot  measure  now,  as  doubtless  very  much  has 
been  eroded  beyond  what  still  remains. 

After  this  came  the  Assuring  of  all  of  the  rocks,  which 
openings  are  now  represented  by  true  fissures,  and  con- 
taining the  rich  mineral  of  this  section.  Now,  as  the  rocks 
would  break  along  lines  of  greatest  weakness,  the  strong 
veins  followed  the  course  of  the  original  gorges  to  a  great 
extent.  This  occurred  in  Elk  basin,  three  large  fissures 
opened  parallel  to  each  other,  now  named  as  the  Micawber, 
Elk  and  Silver  Deal  mining  claims;  also  many  cross 
fissures  occured  at  the  same  time,  and  they  too,  carry  pay 
ore  as  well  as  the  larger  crevices.  This  breaking  or  Assuring 
of  the  sedimerttary  rocks  along  the  old  gorges  gave  the 
start  for  the  present  courses  of  drainage  and  erosion. 

Here,  too,  I  believe  is  proved  another  fact,  which  has 
been  held  of  late  years,  by  leading  geologists  and  mineral- 
ologists,  viz. :  That  the  contents  of  fissure  veins 
are  the  accumulated  atoms  derived  from  the  adjoining 
country  rocks;  because  here  I  find  where  these  strong 
veins  outcrop  in  the  conglomerate,  the  ore  is  of  very  much 
lower  grade,  with  zinc  and  iron  sulphides  predominating ; 
while  on  the  same  veins  apparently,  but  worked  at  places 
where  greater  surface  erosion  ha.'^  taken  effect,  such  ores  as 
ruby  and  native  silver  appear.  Then  again,  where  a  vein 
is  found  in  the  granite  porphyry,  the  gangue,  is  principally 
calc-spar  instead  of  quartz. 

Such  evidence,  as  the  facts  just  stated,  would  lead  to 
the  inference  that  the    vein    material   would    be   modified 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  43 

b}'  each  different  strata  of  rock  passed  through,  and  show 
the  change  in  the  same  horizon.  It  would  be  interesting 
to  have  careful  chemical  analysis  of  country  rock  and  vein 
matter  from  the  same  horizons  of  some  of  the  veins  here, 
when  the  mines  are  regularly  and  sytematically  opened,  so 
that  one  could  select  material  and  be  sure  of  depth  enough 
to  pass  all  surface  changes. 

I  wish  to  have  my  readers  remember,  and  try  to 
thoroughly  impress  on  their  minds,  that  what  I  say  about 
this  country  is  derived  from  the  facts  as  I  see  them ;  that  I 
am  working  in  a  formation,  the  like  of  which  has  never 
been  described  in  any  work  on  geology;  therefore,  in 
making  deductions  from  these  facts,  they  must  not  be 
taken  as  generalities,  that  will  apply  to  other  sections. 
This  is  the  only  real  generality  that  I  find  everywhere, 
viz:  Each  locality  must  be  worked  up  by  itself,  without 
reference  to  what  appears  to  be  similar  elsewhere. 

The  Elk  lode  was  the  strongest  vein  that  I  saw  in  the 
basin,  though  I  am  told  the  Micawber  is  showing  splendidly 
in  development,  but  could  not  get  into  it  on  account  of 
water  in  the  workings.  This  Elk  lode  is,  in  places,  twenty- 
five  feet  wide  on  the  surface,  some  high  grade  ore  has  been 
got  at  grass  roots,  also  in  a  forty-foot  shaft  a  little  ruby 
silver  occurred;  but  the  best  showing  is  in  recent  work  and 
only  twelve  feet  from  the  surface.  Here  over  three  feet  of 
ore  is  seen,  evidenly  low  grade,  but  for  the  reason  given 
above,  regarding  change  of  quality  with  depth,  is  perfectly 
safe  to  go  down  on.  Mr.  T.  Owen  had  taken  two  large 
pieces  out  at  the  time  of  my  visit,  aggregating  i,ooo  pounds 
weight.  They  are  now  in  Denver  as  part  of  the  Mining 
Exposition.  Were  there  work  enough  being  done  in  this 
basin,  the  cost  for  a  wagon  road  would  be  comparatively 
small  from  any  of  the  claims  to  Irwin.  At  present,  how- 
ever, all  that  I  could  learn  of  was,  that  assessment  work 
was  kept  up. 


44  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

The  next  place  was  up  Ruby  Gulch,  to  see  the 
Oaks  lode,  recently  leased  and  bonded  by  R.  R.  Dun- 
can. I  went  there  in  company  with  W.  E.  Grov^er  and 
T.  H.  Wheeler,  the  latter  gentleman  only  three  weeks 
from  Boston  and  the  sea  coast.  He  appeared  to  take  to 
mountain  life  as  naturally  as  a  duck  to  water.  Pay  ore  was 
discovered  at  grass  roots  on  this  claim,  and  surface  strip- 
ping was  the  work  being  done.  The  quartz-carrying  min- 
eral is  from  one  to  three  feet  wide.  What  this  ore  will 
average  in  value  I  cannot  tell,  but  while  I  was  on  the 
ground  three  shots  were  put  off  in  the  mineral  streak,  and 
all  of  the  rock  thrown  out  contained  a  good  showing  of 
ruby  and  native  silver.  Mr.  Duncan  has  sent  a  very  hand- 
some piece  to  the  Exposition.  One  could  not  help  but 
draw  the  conclusion  that  the  Oaks  mine  from  its  surface 
showing  has  a  real  basis  that  will  warrant  development, 
and  with  careful  management  in  time  be  a  good  paying 
property.  I  obtained  some  fine  specimens  here,  one  of 
them  a  real  gem  in  mineralogy,  a  crystal  of  ruby  silver 
inside  of  a  crystal  of  quartz. 

The  next  day,  in-  company  with  two  of  the  gentlemen 
named,  I  went  into  0-Be-Joyful  basin,  about  eight  miles 
from  Crested  Butte.  A  good  wagon  road  grade  is  found 
all  of  the  way  up  to  the  head  of  the  basin  from  Slate  River. 

I  saw  one  claim  here  that  is  a  veritable  curiosity  in 
geolog}^  or  fissure  vein  filling.  It  is  a  true  fissure 
and  about  900  feet  up  the  mountain  side,  a  fine  outcrop  of 
galena  shows  for  160  feet  along  the  surface,  ranging  in  the 
surface  outcrop  from  five  to  nine  inches  in  width;  the 
galena  partly  changed  to  anglesite,  and  of  an  average  value 
of  about  ^60  per  ton.  The  total  heighth  from  the  basin 
level  to  the  top  of  the  ridge,  that  this  vein  cuts  through,  is 
about  1,200  feet,  and  divides  Poverty  gulch  from  O-Be- 
Joyful  basin.  Some  400  feet  below  the  mineral  outcrop  a 
tunnel  has  been  run  in  150  feet,  on  a  fine  crevice,  but  no 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  45 

mineral  shows  as  above.  A  little  soft  gouge  occurs  in 
places,  but  the  crevice  is  principally  filled  with  a  material 
fallen  in  from  the  surface  and  shows  a  dry  crevice.  This 
was  so  strange  that  I  set  about  finding  a  cause  for  it  and 
climbed  clear  to  the  top  of  the  ridge.  From  there  looking 
down  nearly  1,200  feet,  very  steep,  over  a  snowbank,  into 
the  next  gulch.  On  climbing  up  past  the  160  feet  of  min- 
eral showing  named,  the  line  of  the  crevice  still  appears  to 
the  top,  but  no  indication  of  ore.  On  the  crest,  about 
twenty-five  feet  wide,  I  went  500  feet  east  and  saw 
nothing  that  gave  any  clue  to  what  had  occurred,  but 
in  examining  the  surface  west  I  found  it.  Here  was, 
outcropping  300  feet  wide,  quartz  porphyry,  evi- 
dently the  filling  of  an  older  fissure  than  those  now 
worked  for  pay  ore,  and  which  existed  previous  to  the 
forming  of  the  sedimentary  strata,  which  everywhere  occurs 
here.  Now  we  have  it  again,  where  the  recent  fissures 
occurred  they  followed  lines  of  weakness  in  the  country 
rock,  and  here  were  old  fissures  marked  out,  which  easily 
opened.  On  the  west  side  of  this  quartz  porphyry  is  a 
very  large  recent  fissure,  filled  to  the  top  of  the  crest  with 
crevice  matter  strongly  mineralized.  The  conclusion  in 
this  case  was  obvious ;  the  west  fissure  from  some  local 
cause  not  now  visible,  took  the  bulk  of  the  crevice  or  vein- 
filling  matter,  and  left  the  east  crevice  partly  dry  of  any 
vein  filling  at  all,  and  quite  uncertain  as  to  what  results 
might  be  on  development.  It  is  a  real  curiosity  in  vein 
making,  but  fully  illustrates  the  folly  of  laying  out  large 
plans  for  the  working  of  a  mine  until  after  the  ground 
within  the  boundaries  of  a  claim,  as  well  as  all  of  the  adja- 
cent rocks  have  been  examined  thoroughly  by  some  one 
who  has  made  the  formation  of  rocks  and  mineral  veins  a 
study,  and  whose  experience  would  be  able  to  point  out  the 
causes  of  what  appears  now  as  effect. 

On  this  crest  I  found  the   conglomerate  in   place,  the 


46  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

same  as  in  Elk  basin,  and  the  first  locality  to  have  it  show- 
ing on  the  Slate  River  slope. 

On  the  way  back  we  stopped  to  look  at  the  Spar  Chief 
claim,  which  near  the  surface  has  eighteen  inches  of  min- 
eralized calc-spar,  assaying  from  ^50  to  ^2,000  per  ton. 
One  day  is  hardly  enough  for  a  basin  like  this,  and  I  expect 
to  go  there  again  and  find  many  good  things — not  devel- 
oped mines,  but  opportunity  to  make  them. 

About  one  and  a  half  miles  from  Irwin  is  the  anthracite 
coal  basin.  For  the  last  two  years  I  had  disputed  the 
existence  of  real  anthracite  in  Colorado,  because  no  one 
could  give  me  any  evidences  of  changes  in  the  neighboring 
rocks  with  the  coal  that  would  show  the  geological  change 
from  bituminous  coal  to  anthracite.  On  seeing  this  ground 
I  had  to  acknowledge  that  I  was  wrong,  because  I  could 
see  where  and  how  the  changes  occurred.  They  have  an- 
thracite coal  here,  a  four-foot  vein  of  it,  said  by  Pennsyl- 
vania experts  to  be  equal  to  anything  in  the  East;  in  fact, 
chemical  analysis  show  an  average  of  two  per  cent  more 
fixed  carbon  than  the  best  Lehigh  Valley  coals.  It  is  being 
mined  now  for  fuel  to  be  used  at  the  Pioneer  mill,  also  for 
making  the  steam  for  power  used  in  the  mines  here,  as 
well  as  the  local  demand  as  a  stove  coal,  for  which  purpose 
it  never  can  be  excelled  in  this  State.  The  two  railroads 
have  graded — viz:  the  Denver  &  Rio  Grande  and  the 
Denver  &  South  Park — into  this  basin,  and  were  it  not  that 
the  officers  of  both  of  these  corporations  are  extensively 
interested  in  coal  lands  personally  elsewhere,  I  opine  track 
would  have  been  laid  over  these  grades  and  Denver  have 
the  opportunity  to  use  the  finest  stove  coal  in  America. 
This  city  alone  could  use  twenty  cars  per  day.  It  could  be 
sold  there  at  a  profit,  with  reasonable  freight  rates,  and 
then  be  cheaper  and  much  nicer  than  any  fuel  now  used  in 
Denver.  These  properties  now  being  worked  are  owned 
by  Mr.  L.  R.  Thompson  and  associates,  who  have  shipped 


GUNNISOX,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  47 

some  fine  pieces  of  this  anthracite,  which,  when  seen  by 
Denver  people  at  the  Exposition,  will  cause  them  to  wish 
they  had  it  to  use  in  their  stoves,  instead  of  the  soft  coal 
that  slacks  so  readil}-,  and  dirties  everything  it  comes  in 
contact  with,  causing  constant  vexation  and  annoyance  to 
the  neat  housekeeper. 

The  occurrence  of  this  anthracite  is  very  interesting 
geologically.  Originally  the  coal  strata  laid  flat,  but  in  this 
section  a  small  mountain  range  of  granite-porphyry,  from 
some  local  cause,  moved  upwards,  raising  the  strata  resting 
on  the  flanks  of  the  mountains  until  they  now  stand  at  an 
angle  of  21°. 

It  was  this  movement  of  the  adjoining  rocks  that  gave 
the  heat  and  pressure  to  make  the  change  in  the  coals, 
from  soft  coal  to  an  anthracite.  W'here  the  sedimentary- 
strata  broke,  one  of  the  drainage  valleys  of  this  section 
occurs,  letting  the  surface  waters  out  now  through  what  is 
known  as  the  South  Fork  of  Anthracite  Creek,  and  through 
that  to  the  Gunnison  River.  The  coal  seam  now  opened 
has  a  splendid  roof  of  solid  sandstone;  the  inclination  of 
the  vein  places  it  in  excellent  position  to  work,  as  it  drains 
itself,  and  from  levels  run,  it  makes  the  coal  in  place,  stop- 
ing  ground,  the  same  as  a  fissure  vein,  thus  naturally  giving 
the  most  economical  facilities  for  working.  Were  this  an- 
thracite coal  field  of  the  same  extent,  comparatively,  as  the 
Eastern  coal  fields  of  like  character,  petroleum  oils  in  pay- 
ing quantities  might  be  looked  for  and  found  in  this 
neighborhood. 

In  comparing  the  position  of  the  opened  vein,  I  thought 
I  saw  evidences  of  its  being  in  the  same  horizon  as  the  vein 
of  semi-bituminous  coals  opened  at  Crested  Butte,  and  of 
the  same  thickness.  If  this  evidence  should  in  time  prove 
to  be  correct,  then  between  this  opened  vein  of  anthracite 
and  the  mountains  east,  there  ought  to  be  two  more,  veins 


48  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

of  anthracite,  and  one  of  them  approaching  a  thickness  of 
eleven  feet. 

As  will  be  seen  further,  on  subsequent  knowledge 
proves  this  deduction  to  be  erroneous,  from  the  fact  that 
the  coal  measures  here  do  not  extend  deep  enough  to  allow 
these  other  two  veins  to  exist. 

Learning  that  there  were  large  beds  of  semi-bitumin- 
ous coal  southeast  of  this  last  described  locality,  along  the 
Ohio  Creek,  I  embraced  an  opportunity  of  accompanying 
Mr.  F.  W.  Fuller,  on  a  horseback  trip,  to  Gunnison  City. 
Following  the  wagon  road  over  the  small  dividing  ridge 
that  separates  the  heads  of  Ohio  and  Anthracite  Creeks. 
As  one  approaches  the  coal  measures  again  in  place, 
the  vegetation  becomes  very  luxuriant.  In  one  place 
of  about  fifty  acres,  I  saw  a  natural  flower  garden  by 
the  road  side  that  surpassed  in  variety  and  gorgeous- 
ness  of  colors,  anything  I  have  ever  seen  outside 
often  acres  of  lilies  I  once  beheld  in  bloom,  in  the  grounds 
of  a  florist  on  Long  Island,  a  short  distance  from  New  York 
City.  It  would  be  worth  the  while  of  some  of  those  Eastern 
flower-growers  to  spend  one  or  more  seasons  in  this  coun- 
try; they  would  find  very  many  new  plants  that  they  could 
make  of  practical  use  in  their  business. 

We  stopped  for  dinner  at  Mount  Carbon,  where  the 
Denver  &  South  Park  Railroad  people  have  extensive  coal 
land  locations,  now  being  worked,  and  the  coal  delivered  by 
wagon  at  Gunnison  City.  From  here,  in  company  with  T. 
Owen,  I  made  a  side  trip  of  a  few  hours'  ride  to  see  the  re- 
sult of  some  work  that  he  had  been  doing  as  my  agent. 
This  ride  would  be  a  treat  to  a  stockman,  for  I  rode  through 
miles  of  mountain  grass  that  came  up  over  my  feet  as  I  sat 
on  horseback,  plenty  of  water  and  timber,  with  coal  under- 
neath the  whole  of  it.  I  rather  think  Owen  tried  to  feel  of 
my  nerves ;  as  we  rode  along  he  pointed  out  a  place  where 
he  had  shot  a  mountain  lion  a   few  days  before.     Nice  in- 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  49 

formation  for  a  tenderfoot,  only  armed  with  a  penknife.  I 
hadn't  lost  any  mountain  lions  and  did  not  want  to  find 
any. 

I  found  considerable  work  done  on  these  coal  loca- 
tions. I  went  into  one  opening  showing  a  seven-foot  vein 
for  400  feet  of  drift,  of  excellent  coal,  and  saw  other  open- 
ings on  coal  seams  in  place  that  led  me  to  think  there  was 
at  least  three  separate  veins  here  now  opened,  with  perhaps 
more  to  be  found  in  depth. 

This  wagon  road  to  Gunnison  City  is  excellent.  As 
we  rode  along  I  thought  I  could  see  where  the  coal  basin 
formation  ended  on  this  east  and  southeast  side,  with  the 
marked  change  in  the  boundary  rocks. 

On  one  of  the  hills  north  of  Ohio  Creek  is  an  outcrop 
of  recent  lava,  which  must  have  had  an  enormous  outflow 
(want  to  go  to  it  next),  evidences  of  which  I  had  already 
seen  in  the  gravels  at  Gunnison  City.  This  volcanic  erup- 
tion must  have  been  one  of  the  causes  of  the  recent  Assur- 
ing of  this  coal  basin,  so  that  the  silver  veins  could  occur 
through  coal  strata,  an  anomaly  that  I  think  does  not  occur 
elsewhere  to  be  known  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  South  of 
Ohio  Creek  is  a  natural  picture — castle  rocks — which  stand 
up  many  hundreds  of  feet  in  height,  and  is  an  exact  repre- 
sentation on  a  huge  scale  of  the  pictures  one  sees  illustrating 
ancient  castles  of  the  middle  centuries  of  European  civiliza- 
tion. Here  I  want  to  go  also.  One  of  my  greatest  desires 
now  is  to  learn  the  area  of  this  whole  coal  basin  and  see  what 
the  geology  of  its  surrounding  rocks  is.  I  realize  now 
that  this  area  will  represent  one  of  the  most  marvelous  sec- 
tions, in  many  respects,  of  Colorado, 

Ohio  Creek  flows  southeast  through  a  broad  and  evi- 
dently fertile  valley,  mostly  taken  up  with  stock  ranches, 
fenced  on  the  bottom  lands,  with  the  rising  or  hilly  ground, 
extending  back  for  miles  from  the  creek,  open,  making  a 
first-class  grazing  ground. 


50  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY, 

We  arrived  in  Gunnison  City  about  midnight  and  left 
the  next  day  at  noon,  so  that  I  had  not  time  to  learn  much 
here  personally.  I  saw  some  good  building  sandstone 
from  near  the  city,  now  being  used  in  the  new  bank  build- 
ing, also  some  gypsum,  some  of  which  had  been  burned 
making  the  whitest  plaster  I  have  ever  seen,  as  well  as  sam- 
ples of  fire  clay  which  was  stated  to  exist  in  a  bed  nearly 
ten  feet  thick.  If  I  did  not  see  much,  I  heard  of  many 
things  that  I  do  want  to  see,  and  will  make  an  opportunity 
to  do  so  as  soon  as  I  can. 

We  returned  to  Irwin  in  good  order,  myself  especially, 
with  the  feeling  that  I  had  seen  and  learned  something. 
I  was  at  this  place  the  evening  that  the  dispatch  came  say- 
ing Senator  Hill's  Ute  Reservation  bill  had  passed  the 
House.  Irwin,  of  course,  broke  loose,  and  the  Senator's 
health  was  drank  many  a  time  and  often.  That  bill  means 
to  this  locality  and  people  just  what  the  original  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  and  peace  meant  to  the  men  who  first 
celebrated  the  Fourth  of  July,  one  hundred  years  ago. 
Now  that  President  Arthur  has  signed  the  bill,  this  coun- 
try is  a  part  of  the  United  States,  instead  of  being  relatively, 
as  it  has  been  for  the  last  three  years  in  the  position  of  a 
foreign  territory.  That  is  the  view  that  capitalists  and  in- 
vestors have  taken  of  this  part  of  Gunnison  County.  Now 
that — thanks  to  the  efforts  of  Senator  Hill — this  barrier  is 
removed,  and  actual  titles  can  be  obtained  to  lands  here, 
these  people  that  have  so  patiently  waited  can  go  to  work 
with  renewed  energy  and  confidence  that  the  capital  will 
come  even  on  the  showing  that  can  be  made  this  year.  Its 
effect  is  to  be  seen  already,  as  the  Windsor  House  tables 
are  full  every  meal,  the  Pioneer  mill  is  running  day  and 
night,  while  on  every  hand  one  hears  of  new  work  started 
or  about  to  be  commenced. 

I  have  already  seen  much  of  this  section,  and  can 
frankly  say  that   I   have  seen  more  evidences  of  natural 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  5  I 

wealth,  with  fewer  barren  prospect  lode^,  than  any  section 
that  I  have  seen  of  the  older  mining  regions  of  the  Eastern 
slope.  This  being  an  off-)'ear  in  mine  selling  for  Colo- 
rado, now  is  the  time  to  buy  prospects,  especially  with  the 
.showing  that  these  have  here,  and  at  the  prices  and  terms 
on  which  they  can  be  purchased.  With  judicious  selection, 
adding  to  them  the  work  that  can  be  done  between  now 
and  spring,  the  man  with  a  few  thousand  dollars  to  use  can 
make  many  hundreds  of  per  cent,  profit  in  the  next  year 
or  two.  This  is  an  easy  country  to  work  in,  has  advanced 
far  enough  to  prove  that  there  is  an  abundance  of  rich 
ores;  it  also  has  transportation  near  by  to  carry  ores  to 
market,  as  well  as  bring  supplies  in.  In  addition  to  which 
is  the  home  cash  market  made  by  the  Pioneer  mill,  and 
Messrs.  Rose,  Reed  &  Co.,  ore  samplers  and  purchasers. 

About  three  miles  north  of  Irwin  is  Justice  basin,  de- 
viation about  1 1, GOO  feet;  can  be  made  readily  accessible  by 
wagon  road  at  small  cost  of  money  and  labor.  Up  there  I 
went  in  company  with  Messrs.  H.  C.  Thompson  and  F.  W. 
Fuller.  Here  only  prospect  and  assessment  work  has  been 
done.  It  is  a  duplicate,  on  a  smaller  scale,  of  Elk  basin, 
but  contains  very  large  veins  with  good  mineral  showing 
near  to  the  surface.  We  saw  the  Justice,  Homestake, 
Alaska  and  Tacomah  mining  claims,  any  of  which,  when 
worked,  ought  to  turn  out  large  amounts  of  ore.  In  this 
basin  I  think  the  gorge  was  not  so  deep  as  in  that  of  the 
Elk,  the  granite  porphyry  coming  nearer  to  the  surface  and 
a  less  thickness  of  sedimentary  rocks  appearing.  I  do  not 
consider  that  this  will  be  found  to  be  any  detriment  to  the  fis- 
sure veins,  but  rather  a  benefit,  from  the  fact  that  the  veins 
will  sooner,  as  depth  is  gained  in  working,  be  found  to 
pass  within  smooth  solid  walls,  containing  an  easy  gangue 
to  work  but  holding  their  own  in  size  of  ore  bodies  as  well 
as  richness.  The  veins  here  showed  surface  croppings  of 
ten  to  over  fifty  feet  wide. 


52  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

Hearing   much  regarding    Redwell  basin,    about  five 
miles  from  here,  on  the  Slate   River  slope,    I    went  over 
there  a  few  days  ago.     The  approach   from  Irwin  is  made- 
through  Elk  basin,  already  described,  up  out  of  this  basin, 
over  a  rapdily  rising  grassy  slope  of  about  3,000  feet — top 
of  the  crest  about  12,000  feet  above  sea  level — and  then — 
it  took  my  breath  away  for  a  time — I  found  myself  suddenly 
looking  down  to  a  depth  of  fully   1,000  feet  into   Redwell 
basin,  with  a  spider  line  marked  out  along  the  side,  ending 
just  acro&s  a  snow-bank  from   me,  which,  on  examination, 
proved  to  be  a  trail.     Having  tied  my  horse  where  the  grass 
was  most  abundant,  and  taken  in  my  second  wind,  as  well 
as  getting  my  nerves  steadied  after  the  first  surprise,  I  slid 
over  that  snow-bank  and  fetched  up  on   the  trail  all   right. 
It  did  seem  for  a  few  moments  as  if  it  would  be    an    easy 
thing  to  expedite  the  descent  and  go  head  foremost  down 
the  side  for  1,000  feet.     However,  following  the  trail  was 
much  the  better  way.     As  I  neared  the  bottom  I  heard  the 
sound  of  hammers  on  an  anvil.     There  I  went,  finding  Mr. 
A.  S.  Stover  and  partners  encamped.     They  have  taken  up 
some  good  claims  here,  one  especially,  the  Little  Addie,  in 
surface  cut  shows  over  seven  feet  of  mineralized  rock,  and 
not  acoss  the  vein  jet.     It  is  claimed  to  be  the  same  vein  as 
the  Micawber,  in  Elk  basin,  and  can  be   traced  the  whole 
way  across  the  dividing  ridge  that  I  had  just  come  down. 
Also  saw  the  St.  George,  with  a  five  foot  crevice,  and  good 
solid  ore  in  it.     Stopped  at  the  Rebecca ;  on  which  work  is 
now  being  done,  showing  strong  possibilities  of  good  ore 
near  by.     From   a  claim  known  as  the    Boston,    with  an 
eighteen-inch   mineral  streak,  I    obtained  good   specimens 
near  the  grass  roots;  value  per  ton   I   do   not  know,  as  in 
most  of  these  basins  only  prospect  holes  have  as  yet  been 
worked. 

About  the  middle  of  the  basin  a  very  strong   ledge  of 
iron  stained   quartz    appears.     Over    this   breaks    a    small 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  53 

stream  of  fresh  water,  next  to  it  a  smaller  stream,  highly 
charged  with  sulphur,  then  another  stream  of  fresh  water, 
beyond  which  is  the  iron  spring,  from  which  the  name  Red- 
well  is  given  to  the  basin.  This  spring  is  over  ten  feet 
deep,  nearly  twelve  feet  square,  with  waters  so  clear  and 
pure  that  it  seems  as  if  you  could  pick  stones  off  the  bot- 
tom with  your  hand  from  the  edge.  The  water  contains 
so  much  iron  that  a  rim  of  that  material  is  built  up  around 
the  spring  as  well  as  staining  the  whole  of  the  rocks  for 
hundreds  of  feet  down  the  basin.  The  sulphur,  fresh,  and 
iron  waters  all  mingle  together,  running  onwards  to  the 
Slate  River.  Mr.  Stover  had^kindly  accompanied  me  that  I 
might  see  and  learn  as  much  as  possible  in  one  day.  I 
found  his  knowledge  of  localities  of  much  value  to  me. 
From  the  spring  we  went  down  the  basin,  following  the 
water-course  in  the  bed  of  the  stream.  I  saw  the  iron  was 
being  precipitated  and  cementing  the  loose  stones  into  an 
iron  conglomerate.  I  realized  then  that  I  was  in  one  of 
Nature's  workshops  and  was  on  the  lookout  for  everything 
that  was  going  on.  We  had  not  far  to  go,  when  we  came 
to  the  croppings  of  a  coal  seam;  just  below  that,  in  time 
past,  was  evidently  a  small  basin.  Into  this  basin  the 
mingled  iron  and  sulphur  waters  had  poured,  but  the  vege- 
table matter,  taken  up  in  solution  from  the  coal  seam,  had 
acted  as  a  precipitant,  and  here  the  manufacture  of  minerals 
had  been  and  is  still  going  on.  For,  in  an  excavation  made 
into  a  flat  deposit  apparently,  was  large  cubes  of  iron 
pyrites,  with  a  fair  showing  of  zinc  and  some  galena. 

Now,  if  my  deductions  of  what  I  saw  in  this  spot  are 
correct,  it  is  ahead  of  any  laboratory  experiments  ever 
made,  for  here  nature  is  doing  the  work  and  on  a  scale  that 
is  comprehensive.  Further,  if  my  reading  is  right,  it  is 
the  most  wonderful  spot  now  known,  for  it  shows  how 
easily,  quietly  and  perfectly  nature  does  work,  and,  as  one 
examines   what  is  being  done,  the  marvel   is  that  the  old 


54  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

straining  theories  of  fire  to  make  minerals  were  ever  held  as 
tenable  at  all. 

I  spent  just  five  hours  in  Redwell  basin,  and  now  feel 
that  I  saw  and  learned  more  in  that  space  of  time  than  I 
ever  accomplished  in  a  similar  period  of  my  life.  It  is  a 
most  interesting  spot.  I  could  spend  days  there  and  not 
tire  of  it. 

As  I  read  the  notices  in  the  Republican  of  the  ap- 
proaching meeting  of  the  association  of  mining  engineers  in 
Denver,  I  cannot  help  but  wish  that  I  had  the  means  per- 
sonally to  invite  them  into  this  country  for  a  week  or  ten 
days,  that  they  might  enjoy  it  with  me.  What  is  to  be 
seen  that  relates  directly  to  their  business  is  simply  marvel- 
ous. Nowhere  else  in  the  world,  that  I  ever  read  of,  can 
rich  silver  veins  be  found  breaking  through  recent  coal 
measures,  all  to  be  seen  and  realized  as  occurring  in  place. 
They  could  learn  more  here,  that  is  really  new,  in  ten  days,. 
than  in  almost  a  life-time  anywhere  else  that  I  know  of 

The  curiosity  of  it  is  not  all ;  nowhere  else  have  I  seen 
a  territory  so  naturally  blocked  out  for  the  use  of  and  ac- 
tive working  by  large  corporations. 

Everyone  of  these  mountain  basins  contain  veins  worth 
working.  If  organized  capitalists  would  secure  single 
basins  for  their  own  use,  at  the  prices  that  they  can  now  be 
obtained  at,  with  cash  enough  in  hand  for  a  couple  of  years 
development  and  expenses,  I  know  places  that  can  be  made 
to  pay  dividends  of  one  per  cent,  per  month  on  ;$3,ooo,ooo 
to  ;^5,000,000  capitalization,  and  keep  it  up  for  years.  It 
It  would  not  take  so  many  thousands  to  do  it,  either. 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  55 


CHAPTER  VII. 


Durango  and  Mexico  Claims — Venango   Properties- 
Comstock — Iron    Basin — Silver    Basin — Swan 
Basin — A  Perilous  Position. 


Just  after  my  last  letter  I  had  an  opportunity  to  exam- 
ime  the  Durango  and  Mexico  mining  claims  of  Ruby 
gulch,  represented  by  Mr.  Wilder  as  principal  owner  and 
active  manager.  These  veins  cross  each  other,  and  as  the 
Mexico  is  much  the  stronger  crevice,  it  holds  its  course 
across  the  Durango,  the  crevice  material  of  both  intermin- 
gling at  the  junction,  but  the  ore  body  at  this  point  really 
is  governed  by  the  course  of  the  Mexico.  The  first-named 
has  the  most  development,  a  tunnel  having  been  run  in 
past  the  intersection,  good  ore  taken  out  up  to  the  Mexico 
ore  body  and  then  lost.  My  examination  showed  that  the 
miners  had  worked  over  and  into  the  hanging  wall,  and  if 
a  cross-cut  is  now  run  for  the  foot  wall,  I  am  very  certain 
a  good,  continuous  ore -body  will  be  found  on  that  side  of 
the  crevice;  as  in  this  mine  the  foot-wall  is  the  one  that 
should  carry  the  largest  body  of  pay  ore.  The  surface  of 
this  mine  has  good  shipping  ore  all  along  past  the  junction 
of  the  two  veins  for  some  hundreds  of  feet,  and  there  is 
nothing  to  indicate  but  that  the  same  should  continue 
below. 

This  mine  is  equipped  with  a  neat  little  hoisting  engine 
manufactured  by  Hendey  &  Meyer,  of  Denver.  It  is  used 
for  hoisting  the  rock  from  a  shaft  lOO  feet  deep.  This 
shaft  is  sunk  on  the  hanging  wall,  some  good  ore  obtained 
but  not  the  continuous  ore-body  that  the  foot-wall  ought 
to  show. 

The  crevice  of  the  Durango  is  fully  fifteen  feet  wide. 


56  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

and  in  addition  to  the  quartz  carrying  ore  is  filled  with 
feldsitic  porphyry,  which  I  consider  the  best  vein  filling 
known,  always  finding  it  with  strong  and   rich  ore  bodies. 

Not  much  development  has  been  done  on  the  Mexico 
as  yet;  surface  stripping  is  now  going  on,  as  they  have 
^lOO  ore  for  700  feet  along  the  vein  out-crop,  from  twelve 
to  eighteen  inches  wide.  Its  chances  ought  to  be  excel- 
lent for  developing  in  time,  into  a  first-class  paying  mine. 

After  this  I  examined  the  workings  of  a  block  of  prop- 
erty (I  have  forgotten  the  name  of  the  company),  situated 
near  Elk  Creek,  and  managed  by  Mr.  Copley.  There  is 
one  principal  vein — the  Venango — and  two  cross  lodes, 
the  Souri  and  Tioga.  Good  ore  was  obtained  by  sinking 
in  the  Venango.  This  was  left  when  tunneling  was 
thought  to  be  the  order  of  the  day.  The  opportunity  for 
tunneling  here  is  good,  as  considerable  depth  can  be 
gained.  A  tunnel  to  cut  the  Venango,  has  been  run  400 
feet  in  solid  rock,  expensive  dead  work.  When  within  fifty 
feet  of  the  vein  the  work  was  turned  at  right  angles,  and 
has  been  continued  200  feet  to  catch  the  Tioga,  and  is  now 
just  upon  the  edge  of  it.  There  is  something  singular 
about  such  work  as  this,  for  here  is  at  least  ;^20,ooo  ex- 
pended in  dead  work  on  this  property,  that  practically  is 
not  worth  one  dollar,  from  the  fact  that  the  tunnel  starts 
within  twenty  feet  of  and  parallel  to  the  Souri  vein. 

Had  the  work  of  tunneling  been  done  on  either  the 
Tioga  or  the  Souri  veins  from  the  surface,  the  ground 
would  have  been  developed  to  show  what  the  veins  con- 
tained, and  the  Venango  could  be  worked  all  right  from 
either  point  of  intersection.  Such  work  as  I  saw  on  these 
properties  is  evidence  of  gross  mismanagement  somewhere, 
and  when  I  see  money  that  is  meant  by  the  parties  advanc- 
ing it  to  [do  the  most  good,  spent  in  this  way,  I  cannot 
wonder  at  Eastern  investors  cursing  mining  as  a  losing 
business.     Whose   fault   this    is    I   do   not  know.     I  take 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  57 

things  as  I  see  them  and  judge  for  myself.  These  people 
really  have  good  properties,  and  it  would  make  a  practical 
mine  manager  ache  all  over  in  the  desire  to  take  hold  of 
them  and  show  the  owners  what  they  really  have  got. 
These  veins  are  close  upon  the  real  country  rock;  are 
large  crevices,  and  should  soon  pass  within  smooth,  good 
walls,  with  an  abundance  of  good  shipping  ore,  besides  an 
easy  gangue  to  work,  viz :  calc-spar. 

It  was  the  calc-spar  appearing  in  the  lower  workings 
of  the  Durango  claim,  mentioned  above,  that  helped  to 
give  me  such  a  firm  belief  that  there  is  good  ore  below  as 
well  as  on  the  surface  of  this  vein,  and  will  be  found  to 
hold  its  own  in  quality,  especially  if  searched  for  the  right 
side  of  the  crevice.  They  are  sacking  some  very  fine  ore 
in  the  surface  stripping  of  this  mine. 

It  was  in  the  Venango  claim  that  I  first  got  copper 
pyrites,  while  among  the  ores  of  the  Mexico  claim  a  little 
copper  stain  appears. 

The  absence  of  both  lead  and  copper  in  this  Ruby 
mining  district  is  something  remarkable,  as,  of  the  ores 
produced,  the  average  of  galena  is  less  than  three  per  cent., 
and  of  copper  less  than  one  per  cent.  These  facts  alone, 
are  sufficient  for  a  thinking  man,  even  if  he  does  not  know 
much  about  ore  reduction  practically;  to  realize  that  the 
way  to  do  with  these  ores  is  to  ship  them  to  the  larger 
smelters  for  treatment;  the  principle  of  ore  reduction  being 
to  produce  an  artificial  ore  most  economically  from  a  com- 
bination of  natural  products  ;  and  from  it  in  its  turn  the 
gold  and  silver  can  be  easily  separated.  This  being  the 
fact,  I  do  not  believe  that  any  known  means  of  reduction 
can  be  applied  to  these  Ruby  District  ores  and  be  locally 
successful,  but  they  must  be  shipped  to  smelters  who  are 
also  purchasers  of  galena  and  copper  ores ;  these  latter 
making  the  best  matte,  or  artificial  ore  product.  In  the 
smelting  process  it  is  by  the  judicious  mingling  of  the  high 


58  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

grade  gold  or  silver  ore,  with  those  containing  a  large  per- 
centage of  either  copper  or  galena  that  the  greatest  value 
of  the  first  is  saved.  There  is  no  quick  process  by  which 
silver  ores  can  be  chlorodized,  or  made  free  milling;  and  I 
am  certain  the  Pioneer  mill  of  Irwin  is  proving  this  to  be  a 
fact,  as  they  must  be  losing  money  on  every  ton  of  ore  that 
they  treat,  and  the  mill  will  soon  be  an  idle  monument  of 
Professor  Jacob's  ignorance. 

The  mill  shut  down  October  i,  1882,  and  the  manager 
published  a  statement  that  the  loss  was  even  thirty  per  cent., 
may  other  investors  take  warning. 

To  fully  connect  the  geology  of  Ruby  gulch  with  the 
other  mineral  basins,  I  must  mention  the  Comstock,  which 
is  a  very  strong  vein,  the  northwest  extremity  of  one  of  the 
largest  veins  of  the  gulch.  Only  a  ten-foot  hole  has  been 
sunk,  beside  the  granite-porphyry  hanging  wall,  with  calc- 
spar  already  appearing  and  showing  mineral.  Twenty-five 
feet  more  ought  to  bring  them  into  a  good  showing.  The 
vein  is  a  very  large  crevice,  filled  with  feldsitic  porphyry, 
strongly  impregnated  with  oxide  of  manganese,  also  con- 
taining concentrated  spots  of  ore  in  the  surface  float,  show- 
ing what  the  crevice  matter  ought  to  be  when  depth  is 
gained.  As  the  vein  breaks  through  the  ridge  that  makes 
the  divide  between  Ruby  gulch  and  Iron  and  Silver  basins, 
I  climbed  to  the  top  of  this  ridge  to  examine  the  other 
side,  and  could  not  find  that  the  same  strength  of  crevice 
material  appeared  there.  On  searching  for  the  cause  of 
this,  I  found  that  the  crest  of  the  ridge  was  a  strong  mass 
of  porphyry,  and  continuing  on  up  to  Ruby  Peak.  This 
probably  cuts  off  the  supply  of  mineral,  and  makes  a  very 
great  difference  in  the  value  of  the  veins  on  the  Anthracite 
Creek  slope. 

The  basins  along  this  Anthracite  Creek  were  next  in 
order  for  me  to  see.  Finding  T.  Owen  and  a  Mr.  Berry 
were  going  to  Iron  basin,  to   do  some  assessment  work,  I 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  59 

accompanied  them.  The  route  was  up  Ruby  gulch,  with 
fine  grass-covered  slopes  to  the  east  of  Ruby  Peak.  Prom 
the  top  of  the  ridge,  elevation,  about  12,000  feet,  a  fine  view 
of  Peeler  and  O-be-Joyful  basins  is  obtained.  The  trail 
skirts  the  rim  of  the  last-named  basin  many  hundred  feet 
above  the  level  parts  of  it.  Part  of  the  trail  passes  over 
large  fragments  of  rock  filling  a  deep  rift  in  the  mountain 
side,  and  underneath  this  a  strong  stream  of  water  flows, 
giving  one  a  peculiar  sensation  as  he  walks  over  it — the 
impression  being  that  you  are  in  the  midst  of  a  thunder 
storm,  with  the  noise  all  about  you,  and  the  sun  still  shin- 
ing brightly  overhead.  Then  we  crossed  a  snow-field  of 
nearly  500  feet  from  there  to  the  gap,  where  the  descent  is 
commenced  on  the  other  side  the  trail  is  really  dangerous, 
known  instances  being  authentically  related  of  horses  and 
"burros"  having  gone  over  the  precipices.  We  had  two 
loaded  burros  with  us,  and  at  one  place  where  steps  were 
cut  in  the  rock,  close  to  the  precipice,  the  leading  burro 
lost  hold  with  his  fore-feet  and  began  to  make  motions  for 
back  somersaults.  Once  started,  he  would  have  made  many 
of  them;  but,  fortunately,  the  burro  had  on  the  eatables, 
and  Berry  and  Owen,  realizing  on  the  instant  that  some- 
thing to  eat  was  more  convenient  right  there  than  1,000 
feet  below,  sprang  forward  in  time  to  give  the  animal  a 
boost  that  set  him  safely  on  his  feet. 

Down  from  the  gap  on  the  ridge,  over  quite  a  long  but 
good  trail,  we  passed  into  Silver  basin.  Here  we  found 
some  men  encamped  who  had  a  contract  on  a  cross-cut 
tunnel ;  but  they  did  not  appear  to  be  very  well  posted  on 
the  geography  of  the  section,  as  I  found  that  my  compan- 
ions had  never  been  that  route  before,  and  could  not  learn 
anything  from  those  whom  we  had  just  met.  However,  we 
knew  where  Iron  basin  ought  to  be,  so  we  skirted  the 
dividing  ridge  vainly,  seeking  for  a  trail ;  going  through 
wet,  marshy  ground  and  brush,  over  fallen  trees  and  rocks, 


6o  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

raining,  too,  to  help  out  the  misery,  mosquitoes  thicker  at 
times  than  bees  swarming,  but  finally  arriving  after  nearly 
five  hours'  tramp,  dinnerless,  at  the  first  claim  to  be  worked. 
While  the  men  were  getting  supper  and  putting  up  the 
tent,  I  set  to  work  to  examine  the  vein,  extending  down  a 
rift  in  500  feet  of  precipice. 

I  found  that  what,  at  that  depth,  appeared  to  be  min- 
eralized quartz  and  very  strong  vein  matter,  was  in  fact  only 
country  rock,  iron  stained  from  oxidization  of  pyrites  con- 
tained in  a  very  narrow  streak  of  quartz.  Up  at  the  divid- 
ing ridge  I  looked,  and  there  was  the  porphyry  dike  that  I 
had  seen  when  examining  the  Comstock,  and  this  showed 
how  well  it  had  done  its  work,  both  for  Iron  and  Silver 
basins. 

As  I  climbed  back  up  the  500  feet  I  had  just  come 
down,  I  found  that  in  many  places  the  rocks  leaned  the 
wrong  way,  so  that  I  had  to  exert  myself  to  the  utmost  to 
get  up,  as  well  as  to  keep  from  falling.  On  arriving  at  the 
tent  I  was,  from  over-exertion,  trembling  like  an  aspen  leaf. 
However,  a  good,  hearty  supper  and  a  restful  sleep  made 
all  right,  so  that  I  was  off  by  sunrise  the  next  morning. 
Taking  my  own  course,  I  went  up  a  grassy  slope,  and  down 
a  similar  one  on  the  other  side,  and  I  was  in  Silver  basin  in 
less  than  one  hour,  that  had  taken  nearly  five  hours  to  go 
round  from  the  day  before. 

I  looked  at  some  of  the  holes  in  Silver  basin,  but  find- 
ing that  they  were  apparently  governed  by  the  same  in- 
fluences as  in  Iron  basin,  it  did  not  seem  to  me  that  any 
quantity  of  pay  ore  could  ever  be  got,  no  matter  how^  much 
work  might  be  done. 

This  being  the  case  I  hurried  along  to  Swan  basin, 
starting  up  a  couple  of  mountain  grouse  on  the  road,  the 
nearest  approach  I  saw  to  game  anywhere. 

At  8  A.  M.  I  was  in  Swan  basin,  eight  miles  from  Ir- 
win.    As  I  came  down  the  trail   into   this   basin — a    small 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  6 1 

one,  but  beautifully  located — I  saw  that  there  was  a  radical 
change  in  things,  and  something  new  had  come  in  as  a 
governing  influence. 

I  visited  some  sixteen  claims  with  strong  veins  from 
five  to  ten  feet  wide,  finding  an  entire  change  in  the  char- 
acter of  quartz  filling  the  crevices,  and  the  mineralizing  ele- 
ment being  principally  arsenical  iron  pyrites,  the  quartz 
having  the  appearance  of  gold  quartz;  and  knowing  that 
gold,  arsenic,  iron  and  sulphur  make  one  of  the  strong  com- 
binations for  that  precious  metal,  I  immediately  began  a 
search  amongst  the  oxidized  pyrites  for  free  gold,  and  found 
a  little.  The  next  move  was  to  find  a  cause  of  such  a 
change  in  the  whole  of  the  mineral  showing,  for  it  was  very 
evident  to  me  that  if  any  of  these  veins  are  worked  down  to 
pay  ore  the  product  would  be  gold,  while  the  prospectors 
were  looking  for  silver. 

After  some  search  I  found  the  rock  that  does  the 
whole  business — a  large  outcrop  of  Archaen  granite  in 
place,  with  the  granite  porphyry  flowing  over  it,  and  the 
sedimentary  strata  built  up  against  both.  Now,  when  the 
veins  are  worked  down  into  this  kind  of  country  rock,  the 
ores  produced  ought  to  be  tellurides,  the  same  as  in  Boul- 
der County.  In  fact,  on  the  Little  Indian  claim,  owned  by 
Swan  Bros.,  I  was  shown  some  dark  looking  streaks  in  the 
quartz  produced,  and  from  such  as  this  they  claimed  to 
have  different  test  assays  of  200  ounces  in  gold  per  ton. 
These  dark  streaks  have  all  of  the  appearance  of  a  telluride 
ore,  and  depth  may  prove  them  to  be  the  upper  parts  of 
petzite  streaks  and  very  rich. 

This  basin  not  having  produced  any  surface  shipping  ore, 
and  all  of  the  quartz  containing  arsenical  iron  pyrites  up  to 
the  grass  roots,  it  is  impossible  to  say,  with  the  present 
developments,  that  they  will  be  paying  veins,  even  at  rea- 
sonable depths. 

There  is  nothing  proved   and   nothing  in  this  part  of 


62  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY, 

the  country  to  compare  them  with.  Personally  I  have  the 
highest  opinion  of  what  I  saw  here,  but  work  must  be  done 
to  prove  that  these  veins  enclose  ore  that  contains  profita- 
ble pay;  and  I  most  earnestly  advise  the  owners  of  these 
claims  to  go  down  upon  them  at  the  lowest  surface  places 
that  they  can  find  to  work  to  advantage. 

I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  dining  with  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Stevens,  who  are  occupying  a  new  and  comfortable  log 
cabin.  They  are  the  owners  of  some  of  the  best  of  the 
prospects  in  the  basin;  and  Mrs.  Stevens,  who  came  over 
from  Irwin  the  day  before  I  did,  has  the  honor  of  being  the 
first  white  lady  in  that  part  of  the  country,  and  certainly  is 
entitled  to  the  credit  of  displaying  great  courage  and  nerve 
in  coming  over  the  trail  that  she  did. 

Mineral  and  Kansas  basins  make  up  the  remaining 
two  on  the  north  fork  of  Anthracite  Creek.  As  I  had 
found  a  gold-bearing  sections  which  may  prove  to  be  very 
rich  in  time,  and  in  such  close  proximity  to  a  very  rich 
silver  district,  I  was  anxious  to  see  more  of  it.  I  could  not 
help  but  connect  the  primitive  granite  found  on  the  divid- 
ing crest  of  Poverty  gulch  with  what  I  found  here,  and  it 
ought  to  underlie  both  of  these  last-named  basins,  govern- 
ing  the  character  of  ores  accordingly.  Having  but  three 
hours  to  spare,  after  making  some  inquiries,  I  started  for  a 
short  cut  over  the  dividing  ridge  from  Swan  basin.  This 
ridge  is  about  600  feet  high,  and  where  I  attempted  to  pass 
is  built  up  of  sedimentary  strata,  held  in  place  by  two  large 
cross-dykes  of  porphyry,  about  1,000  feet  apart.  The 
climb  was  very  steep  from  the  bottom  up  ;  the  last  fifty  feet 
was  as  steep  as  the  roof  of  a  house,  covered  with  a  couple 
of  inches  of  loose  shale,  not  giving  any  secure  foothold. 
Up  this  I  scrambled  like  a  cat,  and  then  lay  down  faint  and 
sick,  for  I  was  looking  straight  down  800  feet  into  Mineral 
basin,  from  a  ridge  only  five  or  six  feet  wide,  and  no  chance 
of  getting  there  except  by  one  jump. 


GUNNISON,  TIIF.  BONANZA  COUNTY.  63 

As  I  looked  back  my  head  swam,  for  it  appeared  as 
steep  where  I  came  up,  and  to  return  that  way  was  impos- 
sible, unless  I  wished  to  arrive  at  the  bottom  in  a  condition 
that  would  not  realize  much  practically  of  thini^s  pertaining- 
to  this  mundane  sphere. 

After  a  time  my  head  cleared  somewhat,  so  that  I 
could  see  that  Mineral  basin  was  much  larger  than  Swan, 
and  from  some  indications  that  I  could  make  out,  might 
have  a  little  better  chance  for  surface  pay  ore. 

The  next  move  was  to  get  down.  After  moving  back- 
wards and  forwards  several  times,  to  accustom  myself  to 
the  place,  and  motion  on  such  a  narrow  ledge,  I  finally 
crept,  on  my  hands  and  knees,  to  one  of  the  porphyry 
ledges  named.  Holding  to  the  projecting  points  of  this, 
that  I  might  not  slide  away  from  myself,  I  gradually  slid 
down  for  300  feet  to  a  jumping  off  place  of  fifteen  or  twenty 
feet  high.  Here,  fortunately,  a  spruce  tree  was  growing, 
and  by  the  aid  of  it  I  clambered  down  to  terra  firma,  and 
thankful  to  have  got  around  safely .^^  Concluding  that  this 
part  of  the  country  would  not  get  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
prospectors  for  some  time  yet,  I  packed  up  to  return,  leav- 
ing the  other  basins  for  future  years. 

As  I  started  I  came  across  a  party  more  tired  and 
worn  out  as  well  as  older  than  myself  To  him  I  gave  the 
use  of  my  horse,  when  it  was  practicable  to  ride,  and  on 
top  of  the  hardest  trip  I  have  had  yet,  I  footed  it  eight 
miles  into  Irwin ;  but  not  at  all  sorry  that  I  had  been  and 
.seen  what  is  herein  described. 


64  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Anthracite  Range  and  Other  Mountains — Description 
of  Coal  Measures — Story  of  a  Pebble-Cochetopa 
Gold  Belt — Lubricator  Mine — Gage's  Camp 
—  Volcanic    Ashes — Physical     Ap- 
pearance   of    the  Gold  Belt — 
"What  Ought  to  be  Looked 
For  —  Gypsum. 


Irvin,  Aug.  26,  1882. — Since  writing  my  last  letter, 
appearing  in  your  paper,  {Denver  Republican)  on  the  20th 
Inst.,  I  have  been  to  busy  to  do  any  writing ;  am  away  be- 
hind with  my  notes;  and  really  beginning  to  be  afraid  that 
snow  will  come  before  I  can  get  the  section,  north  and  east 
of  the  Slate  River,  examined ;  that  I  may  fit  its  geology  on 
to  what  I  have  already  done. 

However,  to  connect  my  recent  observations,  with  the 
last  recorded,  I  must  commence  with  the  Anthracite 
range,  where  I  camped  two  days  to  examine  the  Anthracite 
coal-beds ;  and  to  try  and  find  out,  how  it  was  that  only 
about  2,000  acres  of  the  finest  Anthracite  coal  on  the'con- 
tinent  should  occur  here  in  a  little  locality,  and  be  sur- 
rounded with  such  a  wide  extent  of  bituminous  and  semi- 
bituminous  coals,  and  all  of  the  same  age  and  geological 
horizons. 

The  Anthracite  range  is  something  over  six  miles  in 
length,  stands  nearly  east  and  west,  and  composed  of  gran- 
ite-porphyry. Further  west,  single  peaks  of  the  same 
material  stand  up,  known  as  Mts.  Edgely,  Beckwith  and 
Marcellina;  filling  the  gap  to  another  mass  of  granite- 
porphry,  known  as  Ragged  mountains,  and  here  the  Elk 
Mountain  range  joins  on.  From  the  east  of  the  Anthra- 
cite range,  after  passing  a  gap,  this  eruptive  granite  makes 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  65 

another  short  mountain  range, — the  Wheatstone  group — 
to  the  south  of  which  stands  Mt.  Carbon.  The  Wheat- 
stone  group  makes  the  connection  through  to  the  Slate 
River,  dividing  the  coal  basin  of  Crested  Butte  from  that  of 
Ohio  Creek  on  the  south.  The  coal  measures  build 
around,  and  upon  the  sides  of  Mt.  Carbon.  I  am  thus 
particular  in  locating  these  mountains,  that  I  may  more 
plainly  show  what  has  occurred. 

Beyond  the  Wheatstone  group,  and  on  the  Divide  be- 
tween East  River  and  Ohio  Creek  is  the  large  outcrop  of 
recent  lava,  covering  both  slopes  with  detritus  down  to 
each  stream. 

When  I  had  climbed  to  the  top  of  Anthracite  range, 
so  that  I  could  see  all  of  this  described  country;  I  found 
the  slope  gradual  towards  the  north,  but  very  abrupt,  and 
approximating  2,500  feet  down  to  Ohio  Creek,  on  the 
south. 

Rising  up  from  a  forest  of  pines,  was  the  Castle  Rocks 
but  how  different  in  appearance,  now  that  I  was  above 
them,  and  seeing  them  from  a  different  position  than  the 
Ohio  Creek  road.  Instead  of  the  massive  front  showing 
there,  with  its  battlements,  towers,  and  turrets,  here  it  had 
the  appearance  of  a  sham,  or  castle  of  cards,  perhaps  a  bet- 
ter simile  would  be,  that  it  appeared  as  a  stage  representa- 
tion of  a  castle. 

Standing  on  top  of  this  range  and  looking  east  to  the 
place  where  this  volcanic  eruption  occurred,  on  the  east 
border  of  this  tertiary  coal  basin,  I  could  see  that  a  large 
crevice  or  gorge  had  opened  from  that  westward;  passing 
north  of  Mt.  Carbon  but  striking  the  end  of  Anthracite 
range.  Opening  a  gorge  into  that,  and  setting  off  a  portion 
of  it,  as  a  mountain  north.  This  effect  can  only  be  realized 
from  the  places  where  on  I  stood. 

Now  the  conclusion  must  not  be  jumped  to  that  I  am 
describing  the  result  of  any  sudden  action,  or  quick  move- 


66        *   GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

ment  of  the  rocks  for  I  cannot  realize  that  such  action  oc- 
curred. The  movement  was  slow,  but  the  result  of  a  vastly 
powerful  force,  making  this  fragment  of  a  mountain  range, 
move  slowly  northward,  until  the  sedimentary  rocks  lying 
on  the  north  base,  were  crowded  so  against,  that  they 
gradually  slid  upwards,  against  the  pressure  of  the  granite- 
porphyry,  until  they  now  stand  at  an  angle  of  21°  as 
described  in  a  former  chapter.  This  movement  must  have 
been  slow,  or  the  sedimentary  rocks  would  have  been 
crushed  into  innumerable  fragments,  and  subsequent  ero- 
ding agencies  would  have  cleared  away  the  whole  of  what 
remains  to-day  of  the  coal  measures.  Now  we  have  locally 
2,cxx)  acres  of  these  rocks  moved  from  horizontal  strata  to 
the  inclination  given,  the  heat  and  pressure  generated  by 
this  rock  movement,  metamorphosed  these  originally  bi- 
tuminous coals,  to  the  finest  lot  of  anthracite  now  known. 
This  2,000  acres  is  all  I  can  find  of  it  in  this  part  of  the 
basin,  and  I  feel  very  certain  that  I  have  coirrectly  described 
the  manner  of  its  occurrence. 

As  I  came  down  the  side  of  the  Anthracite  range,  I 
picked  up  a  couple  of  red  jasper  pebbles,  sole  remnants  of 
over  1,000  feet  of  tertiary  conglomerate  that  formerly  cov- 
ered the  upper  part  of  the  sides,  and  over  the  top  of  this 
granite-porphyry  range. 

Could  these  pebbles  talk  what  a  history  they  could 
relate;  they  could  tell  of  their  early  life  and  residence ;  how 
at  one  time  they  jutted  out,  the  portion  of  a  large  whole, 
on  some  mountain  side;  how  below  them  was  swift  run- 
ning waters;  how  the  mountain  top  was  snow-capped; 
how  the  frosts  split  and  set  loose  large  fragments  of  the 
formations  above  them ;  how  one  of  these  crashing  and 
tumbling  down  the  mountain  side,  broke  off  fragments  of 
this  jasper;  how  as  sharp  cornered,  angular  stones,  these 
pebbles  formed  part  of  the  detritus  of  the  mountain  side ; 
how  thfe  swift  running  waters  at  the  mountain  foot,  kept 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  6/ 

clearing  away  the  masses  below,  so  that  each  season  found 
them  nearer  and  hearer  to  these  waters;  how  slow  this 
part  of  the  journey  was,  compared  to  the  traveling  that 
followed  when  they  reached  this  madly  rushing  mountain 
stream;  how  after  a  time,  into  these  waters  they  fell,  and 
commenced  their  journey  seaward;  how  in  this  journey 
they  were  knocked  against  other  rocks,  all  rolling  through 
an  unknown  country  to  an  unknown  end;  how  here  a  cor- 
ner was  chipped  off,  there  a  rough  spot  ground  smooth ; 
how  they  gradually  diminished  in  size  under  nature's  rough 
handling,  until  from  many  pounds  weight,  a  few  ounces 
would  out-balance  them  ;  how  at  last,  they,  with  many 
others,  reached  a  sea  shore;  was  there  caught  up  in  the 
waves  on  a  shallow  beach  and  thrown  hither  and  thither 
with  the  crowd,  rubbing  and  jostling  against  each  other 
still  wearing,  on  the  sands,  smoother  and  smaller;  how  they 
gradually  worked  their  way  by  ocean's  currents  to  deeper 
waters,  and  there  had  the  rest  their  long  wearisome  journey 
entitled  them  to;  how  in  this  sea  was  no  animal  life  utiliz- 
ing its  waters ;  how  the  waters  of  this  ocean  also  received 
floating  masses  of  wood  from  the  streams  coursing  through 
its  border  land  covered  with  the  trees  of  the  tropics ;  how 
these  went  their  weary  course  hither  and  yon,  never  resting 
except  as  they  rotted  and  sunk ;  how  these  woods  revenged 
themselves  on  what  was  their  master,  for  as  a  particle  of  wood 
left  the  larger  whole  it  took  from  these  waters  an  atom  of 
silica;  how  this  atom  of  silica  attached  itself  to  the  woody 
mass,  and  so  the  exchange  went  on  until  what  was  once  a 
portion  of  a  growing  tree,  became  a  stone  still  re- 
taining its  identity  in  form,  but  nevertheless  was 
stone  and  stone  only ;  how  this  teaches  that  na- 
ture uses  what  she  has  at  hand  for  her  purposes ; 
how  these  petrified  woods  helped  also  to  make  the  sea  bot- 
ton;  how  all  of  these  changes  were  ages  upon  ages  going 
on ;  how  these  same  pebbles  were  buried  hundreds  of  feet 


68  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

deep  by  the  material  brought  from  the  lands,  by  swift 
running  fresh  waters,  to  this  hungry  maw,  that  never  could 
seem  to  be  satisfied;  how  a  seemingly  endless  time  passed 
in  this  grave,  never  expecting  to  meet  fresh  waters  again, 
nor  see  that  bright  sun  which  had  daily  shown  on  them  in 
the  long  gone  times;  how  there  came  a  change,  a  gradual 
upward  movement,  and  with  it  the  rendingof  rocks,  strange 
sounds,  and  the  waters  gradually  draining  out  from  among 
them  as  a  mass ;  how  another  long,  long  period  of  rest  fol- 
lowed ;  how  after  a  time  they  again  heard  the  mad  whirling 
of  waters,  but  this  time  above,  instead  of  below  them  ;  how 
these  waters  appeard,  in  their  rage  and  spite,  to  be  tearing 
away  all  that  had  been  so  long  building,  getting  nearer  and 
nearer  to  them ;  how  at  last  they  too  were  caught  in  its 
rough  swirl,  but  only  for  a  short  time.  So  hard  did  these 
new  waters  work  that,  in  far  less  space  of  time,  all  that  had 
been  so  laboriously  accumulated,  was  again  torn  from  their 
last  home,  and  swept  away,  where  to,  these  pebbles  know 
not,  how  quickly  these  waters  got  below  them  again  ;  how 
they,  with  a  very  few  others,  were  left  stranded  upon  the 
mountain  side  to  wonder  what  had  become  of  the  millions  upon 
millions  of  their  fellows  ;  how  the  sun  shone  upon  this  moun- 
tain ;  how  in  one  season  the  frost  attacked  its  barren  sides,  at 
another  season  warm  showers  fell  upon  the  frost  detached 
atoms;  how  after  a  time  the  green  plant  life  came  to  them; 
how  this  lived  and  died  year  after  year,  adding  by  its  death 
new  elements  to  the  Tock  dust,  which  each  year  became 
stronger  to  do  that  which  nature  wanted,  that  is,  give  sup- 
port to  more  and  more  life  ;  how  at  last  another  character 
of  life  appeared,  that  could  move  about,  animals  of  all 
kinds,  with  two  feet  and  four,  clawed  or  hoofed;  with  birds 
among  all  that  at  times  disdained  the  ground  and  flew 
hither  and  thither;  how,  strangest  of  all,  one  bright  sunny 
day  one  of  a  new  kind  of  animal  passed  them  by,  stopped 
and  came  to  them,  gathered  them   up,  sent  them  to   his 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY,  69 

museum  in  Denver;  how  this  being  tried  to  write  their 
story,  in  a  few  short  pages,  when  the  largest  hbrary  could 
not  contain  the  volumes  that  could  be  filled  with  all  they 
might  say  of  their  old,  old,  story. 

Such  is  a  faint  sketch  of  what  these  two  insignificant 
stones  might  tell  us  of,  could  they  only  talk. 

From  this  locality  across  to  Jack's  Cabin,  or  Howville 
on  the  Slate  River,  to  be  sure  of  the  connecting  links  in  the 
rocks  that  I  have  been  trying  to  study  and  describe,  was  the 
next  trip. 

Then  I  had  to  go  to  Denver  on  some  business  needing 
immediate  attention,  was  kept  there  only  three  days,  when 
back  I  came  to  Gunnison  City ;  at  this  place  I  was  detained 
some  days  during  the  culmination  of  matters  of  personal 
interest,  and  took  the  opportunity  to  practically  examine 
the  Cochetopa  gold  belt,  south  and  southwest  of  Gunnison. 

The  rocks  of  this  belt  appear  to  be  Archa^n  granite, 
showing  an  average  surface  of  ten  miles  wide  and  thirty- 
five  miles  in  length,  or  an  area  of  350  square  miles,  and 
only  prospected  in  places  and  evidently  not  at  all  in  the 
best  parts  of  it.  Gold  was  first  discovered,  on  August  5, 
1880,  in  the  Lubricator  claim  and  considerable  excitement 
occassioned,  which  rapidly  died  out,  as  the  most  of  the  dis- 
coveries were  made  in  a  trachyte  formation  that  I  found 
bordering  each  side  of  the  granite  belt;  in  some  place  this 
trachyte  gives  way  to  the  older  metamorphic  rocks. 

In  this  trachyte  the  veins  have  all  of  the  appearance 
of  gash  veins  filled  with  a  very  hard  white  quartz,  oc- 
casionally containing  remarkably  fine  specimens  of  free  gold, 
just  sufficient  to  lead  the  prospector  on,  but  do  not  appear 
to  carry  their  value  as  depth  is  gained.  In  fact,  all  of  those 
that  I  saw,  with  but  one  or  two  exceptions,  invariably 
pinched  out  a  few  feet  from  the  surface.  This  trachyte 
country  rock  the  prospector  wants  to  avoid. 

About  six  miles  from  Gunnison  City  is  Gage's  camp. 


70  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

near  here  some  of  the  finest  gold  specimens  have  been  ob- 
tained. A  short  distance  from  this  camp,  bedded  upon  the 
country  rock,  is  a  large  deposit  of  white  volcanic  ash,  loosely 
cemented  to  a  rock  with  a  small  percentage  of  lime.  It  is 
very  interesting,  as  it  contains  angular  fragments  of  coun- 
tr}'  rock,  which  must  have  been  ejected  by  the  volcano 
while  active,  at  the  same  time  as  the  ashes.  This  eruption 
must  have  been  very  strong  and  continuous  for  a  time,  as 
the  ashes  fell  thick  and  fast  enough  to  fill  the  waters  to  an 
amount,  which  made  the  whole  a  thick  mud,  resulting  in  a 
homogenous  mass  of  volcanic  ash  rock  now  very  Arable. 

Had  the  eruption  of  ashes  been  lighter,  or  intermit- 
tent, the  result  would  have  been  that  the  sedimentary 
material  would  have  been  washed  and  sifted  by  the  waves, 
leaving  horizontal  strata  instead  of  the  present  homogenous 
mass. 

•  This  ash  bed  also  has  another  peculiarity,  within  it  is 
found  egg-shaped  geodes  from  an  inch  or  two  in  diameter, 
to  one  I  saw  of  fifteen  inches  longest  diameter,  and  nine 
inches  through  the  thickest  part  of  the  short  diameter  of 
the  oval.  These  are  evidently  the  linings  by  infiltration  of 
cavities  in  the  rock,  formed  by  the  removal  of  some  easily 
decomposed  substances  buried  in  the  ashes,  but  what,  I  do 
not  know. 

I  spent  three  days  in  this  section,  the  last  day  riding 
some  forty  miles  with  three  others,  one  of  the  gentlemen 
being  Judge  D.  L.  Murdock,  of  Fairbury,  Illinois. 

The  whole  country  is  covered  with  sage  brush,  and 
for  game  has  an  abundance  of  sage  hens.  It  is  most  deso- 
late in  appearance,  looking  like  an  old  worn  out  countrj'-, 
and  such  it  really  is.  The  monotonous  appearance  of  the 
Colorado  Divide,  south  of  Denver,  being  the  nearest  to  it 
for  comparison  of  any  section  that  I  have  examined.  But 
its  mineral  wealth  may  turn  out  to  be  something  wonder- 
ful,    I  certainly  saw  one  or  two  evidences  of  what  may  be. 


GUNNISON.  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  /I 

and  as  it  is  my  business  in  this  work  to  give  information 
that  ma)-  be  of  value  to  mining  men,  whether  I  get  any  im- 
mediate returns  or  not;  I  feel  very  much  Hke  placing  my- 
self on  record  as  to  this  section  by  outlining  what  ought  to 
be  found. 

The  best  veins  will  be  found  in  the  granite  itself,  and 
will  show  a  true  crevice  of  five  to  ten  feet,  or  even  wider ; 
filled  with  a  gangue  composed  principally  of  feldspar,  at 
times  a  little  lime,  and  occasionally  streaks  or  spots  of  white 
quartz.  This  gangue  would  be  originally  filled  with  ar- 
senical iron  pyrites  rich  in  gold,  now  decomposed  or  oxi- 
dized leaving  the  ore  product  free  milling,  and  a  value  can 
be  expected  of  from  $15.00  per  ton  upwards.  This 
vein  material  will  be  almost  picking  ground  for  manj-  feet 
down,  and  the  entire  mass  filled  with  gold  finely  but  evenly 
distributed.  The  depth  of  free  milling  ore  will  be  from  300 
to  1,000  feet.  This  estimate  is  based  upon  the  fact,  that 
this  section  has  no  springs  or  running  water  and  the  con- 
sequent decomposition  of  the  arsenical  iron  pyrites  down 
to  the  real  water  level  of  this  section  \vhich  will  vary  as 
above  estimated. 

The  finding  of  rich  specimen  pieces  of  gold  in  such 
veins  will  be  the  exception ;  in  fact  gold  visible  to  the 
eye  may  hardly  be  expected,  but  it  will  show  readily 
enough  in  panning  or  testing  in  a  horn. 

Now  such  veins  as  these  would  naturally  erode  on  the 
surface,  leaving  a  trough  or  sag  along  the  course  of  the 
vein,  into  which  would  be  washed  small  boulders,  pebbles 
and  sand ;  covering  all  evidences  of  any  vein  at  all.  As 
no  white  quartz  is  in  these  veins  of  any  amount,  there  will 
be  no  float  abundant  on  the  surface  near  them,  as  seen  in 
the  gash  veins  appearing  in  the  bordering  trach}-te.  Con- 
sequently the  best  veins  and  the  only  ones  to  be  relied  on 
for  continuous  pay,  will  be  more  difficult  to  find  and  will 


72  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

have  to  be  prospected  for  in  a  manner  very  different  from 
the  finding  of  most  mineral  veins.      « 

That  this  granite  has  been  very  much  fissured,  so  as  to 
allow  such  veins  to  form,  there  is  abundance  of  evidence  in 
the  surrounding  eruptive  rocks,  showing  so  near  by.  In  fact 
I  know  that  such  has  been  the  case  for  I  found  a  large  dike 
of  an  eruptive,  porphyrytic  paste,  which  only  occurs  in 
fissured  granite  country  rock;  and  where  encountered  be- 
fore, there  is  an  abundance  of  free  gold  to  be  had. 

I  feel  almost  certain  that  in  time  many  such  veins  as 
I  have  described  will  be  found  in  this  350  square  miles  of 
gold  territory. 

The  above  are  the  deductions  I  have  made  regarding 
this  section  as  a  geologist,  and  I  know  that  I  am  right; 
may  those  who  can  take  advantage  of  the  knowledge  I  am 
able  to  give,  and  prove  that  I  have  read  these  rocks  aright, 
and  the  result  be  of  profit  to  themselves  as  a  reward  of 
their  labors  and  faith  in  what  I  have  said. 

I  might  go  one  step  farther  and  add,  that  if  there  is 
any  geological  section  of  Colorado,  where  there  is  a  possi- 
bility of  finding  those  rarer  metals,  known  as  Osmiridium, 
Palladium  and  Platinum,  it  would  be  in  connection  with 
the  ores  produced  from  such  a  locality  as  this  Cochetopa 
gold  belt. 

In  this  granite  formation  and  near  to  Gunnison  is  also 
found  large  deposits  of  gypsum  (sulphate  of  lime),  making, 
when  calcined  the  finest  plaster  of  Paris  I  know,  as  it  has  a 
brilliant  white  lustre  equal  to  zinc  white  when  used  as  a 
paint. 

To  this  point  was  as  far  as  I  had  time  to  put  my  notes 
in  order,  and  make  them  public  through  the  Denver 
Republican.  Winter  was  coming,  I  had  much  work  yet  to 
do  and  I  could  not  take  the  time  to  write,  therefore  what 
follows  in  this  volume  has  never  before  been  published. 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  73 


CHAPTER  IX. 


Coal  Creek  and  Redwell  Basin  Divide — Snow — Cause 

of  Iron  Swamp  and  Iron  Spring — Leaving  Irwin 

— Peculiarities  of  the  Ruby    Silver  Belt 

Prospective     Product     of   Ores  — 

Concentration — Specimens 

Collected. 


On  my  return  to  Irwin,  I  was  called  upon  to  examine 
certain  claims  situated  on  the  dividing  ridge  between  Coal 
Creek  and  Redwell  basin,  about  three  miles  from  Crested 
Butte. 

The  route  from  Irwin  was  up  through  Elk  basin,  by 
trail  around  to  the  Coal  Creek  side,  and  into  Coon  basin. 
I  found  a  large  vein,  twenty-five  feet  between  walls,  with  a 
body  of  mineralized  quartz,  three  to  six  feet  wide,  con- 
taining, originally,  iron  pyrites,  now  oxidized  and  leaving 
most  brilliant  colors  of  irrisdescent  iron  in  the  surface 
material.  The  owners  claimed  as  high  as  ^50  in  gold  per 
ton,  for  this  quartz ;  it  certainly  appeared  to  be  a  gold  quartz. 
Unfortunately  at  the  time  of  my  visit  there  w^as  not  devel- 
opment enough  done  to  prove  anything  further  than  that  here 
was  one  of  the  very  strong  veins  ofthe  section,  and  well  worth 
an  expenditure  of  cash  and  labor  to  develop  it.  I  climbed 
up  to  the  dividing  crest,  and  had  a  most  noble  view.  Red- 
well  basin,  I  could  look  down  into,  also  0-be-Joyfull,  up 
the  valley  of  the  Slate,  over  into  Washington  gulch,  out 
and  beyond  Gothic  and  Cressed  Butte  mountains  ;  down 
Coal  Creak,  pa.st  Crested  Butte  town,  down  the  valley  of 
the  Slate,  in  and  amongst  the  Wheatstone  ^group,  over  the 
points  of  Wheatstone  and  Anthracite  ranges  to  the  great 
Uncompahgre  range  beyond. 


74  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

It  snowed  (August  24,  1882),  a  few  minutes,  while  we 
were  up  there. 

I  saw  something  else,  of  more  personal  interest  to  me, 
than  the  above  described,  magnificent  panorama.  I  saw 
that  I  had  been  examining  the  vein,  which  crossed  Red- 
well  basin,  and  from  which  is  leached  the  material  contained 
in  the  iron  spring,  and  produces  the  other  curious  results  de- 
scribed in  my  visit  to  Redwell.  I  saw  that  this  same  vein 
came  through  to  the  Coal  Creek  side,  and  here,  by  leach- 
ing, it  furnishes  the  material  for  the  bog  iron  ore  of  the 
iron  swamp,  on  Irwin  and  Crested  Butte  road. 

■  Seeing  these  results  the  question  naturally  arose,  was 
not  this  vein  of  greater  age  than  the  other  veins  of  the 
same  locality,  which  carry  the  ruby  silver  ores?  I  think  it 
is,  and  actually  existed  as  a  fissure  vein,  well  mineralized 
before  the  commencement  of  the  deposit  of  the  tertiary 
rocks  amongst  which  it  occurs,  and  that  subsequent  erosion 
has  again  exposed  it  to  view.  The  fact  of  its  containing  a 
gold  value,  instead  of  silver,  is  another  local  anomaly  and 
would  induce  the  belief  that  its  source  of  supply  here  is 
from  primitive  granite,  and  that  this  country  rock  at  this 
spot  is  quite  near  by.  If  future  working  should  prove  these 
surmises  to  be  correct,  and  I  feel  quite  sure  that  they  are, 
the  probabilities  will  be  that  here  is  one  of  the  future 
bonanzas.  It  is  worth  trying,  I  could  assure  the  owners 
of  that. 

Having  spent  more  weeks  than  I  at  first  thought,  I 
would  have  to  stop  days  in  this  Ruby  Mining  District ; 
and,  feeling  that  if  any  one  had  seen  it  thoroughly  I  cer- 
tainly had,  it  was  time  for  me  to  be  moving,  as.  I  had 
very  much  yet  to  do  before  my  season's  work  as  I  laid  it 
out,  would  be  accomplished. 

Before  leaving  Irwin,  where  I  met  very  many  pleas- 
ant people,  I  would  like  to  say  a  few  words  regarding  its 
possible  future,  especially  as  it  appears  to  have  been  very 


GUNNrSON.  THE  BONANZA  COUNTV.  75 

much  misunderstood  as  a  mining  district,  and  in  some  in- 
stances perhaps  willfully  misrepresented. 

Its  geological  structure,  as  a  whole.  I  must  leave  until 
I  get  through  my  season's  work,  that  I  may  have  all  the 
real  knowledge  possible,  in  order  to  make  correct  deduc- 
tions, and  show  without  error,  how  it  was  possible  for 
rich  silver  veins  to  occur  breaking  through  tertiary' rocks 
and  in  some  instances  passing  up  through  coal  veins. 

Such  is  the  anomaly  of  this  ruby  "silver  belt,  and  it  is 
no  wonder  that  errors  have  been  made  in  mining,  and 
owner  of  properties  threw  up  their  holdings,  disgusted  and 
discouraged;  but  all  did  not,  some  held  on  and  worked, 
partly  because  of  a  bull-dog  tenacity  that  sometimes  makes 
or  ruins  a  man;  others  because  they  could  not  but  reason, 
that  if  such  rich  sulphide  ores  were  to  be  found  at  grass- 
roots, the  ores  must  keep  on  down — Prof  Jacobs  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding — so  that  at  the  time  of  my  visit 
things  were  looking  better  than  they  had  for  nearly  two 
years.  Mines  enough  were  opened  and  proved  to  warrant 
an  estimate,  that  if  all  that  had  been  proved  were  worked, 
and  worked  as  mines  should  be,  a  daily  output  would  be 
had  of  300  tons;  worth,  on  an  average  $'j'i^  per  ton  of 
shipping  ore,  or  ;^22,500  gross  value  per  day.  To  accom- 
plish this,  such  mines  can  be  named  as  the  Forest  Queen, 
Bullion  King,  Buby  Chief,  Howard  Extension,  and  four 
more  claims  in  the  Ruby  Chief  group,  as  well  as  the 
Mexico,  Durango  and  Lead  Chief 

In  addition  to  this  grade  of  ore,  I  never  knew  a  mine 
yet,  producing  pay  ore,  but  also  yielded  three  to  five 
times  as  much  in  tons  of  a  concentrating  product.  Sup- 
posing we  figure  the  minimum  amount,  and  we  have  900 
tons  per  day  of  concentrating  ore.  This  character  of 
gangue,  with  mineral,  will  reduce  ten  to  thirty  tons  to  one, 
an  average  would  be  twenty  tons  to  one,  making  forty-five 
tons  per  day,  additional  of  shipping  ore.     These  concentrates 


jd  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

would  average  $200  per  ton,  or  a  gross  shipping  value  of 
$9,000,  making  a  total  product  per  day  of  331,500. 

This  is  hot  an  over-estimate  at  all,  in  fact,  I  think  some 
of  those  locally  interested  will  say  I  am  considerably  be- 
low the  mark.  This,  however,  I  felt  I  had  obtained  suf- 
ficient data  for,  and  that  a  very  short  time,  say  two  years, 
would  actually  show  an  excess  over  my  figures,  for 
there  is  very  many  more  prospects  to  be  developed  into 
mines,  within  a  radius  of  three  miles  of  Irwin,  and  which 
prospects  show  just  as  good  at  the  surface  as  most  of 
those  that  I  have  named,  it  is  only  a  question  of  practical 
knowledge  and  work. 

It  obtained,  personally,  nearly  1,000  lbs.  of  the  geo- 
logical and  mineralogical  representations  of  this  district, 
perhaps  a  better  representation  than  has  ever  before  been 
collected  for  practical  use,  by  anyone  to  have  them  all  to- 
gether, that  the  relation  of  the  different  rocks  may  be  seen 
in  connection  with  the  various  ores,  which  occur  in  these 
mineral  veins.  There  is  no  doubt  in  rny  mind,  but  that  I 
have  actually  obtained  sufficient  data  and  evidences,  to 
prove  the  actual  age  of  these  ruby  silver  veins,  and  that 
when  I  come  to  sum  up  the  whole,  they  will  be  found  to 
have  occurred  at  a  more  recent  date  in  the  geological  his- 
tory of  the  world  than  has  been  before  supposed,  and  very 
much  later  than  the  occurrence  of  most  vein  formations. 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  "jy 


CHAPTER  X. 


Return  to    Crested    Butte — Mining    Claims  in  O-Be- 

Joyful  Basin — How  Knowledge  is  Needed — Work 

Required  to  Obtain   Practical  Knowledge — 

Geology  of  O-Be-Joyful  Basin — North 

Fork  of  Anthracite    Creek — Silver 

King  and  Bay  Billy  Claims — 

Fossils — A  Hard  Day's    Work — 

Elko— Gothic  Road— Bellevue 

Mt. — Central  Mining  and 

Milling  Co — Crested 

Butte   Again. 


On  August  26,  1882,  I  returned  to  Crested  Butte,  and 
the  Elk  Mountain  House,  to  make  that  point  the  starting 
place  again  of  future  work.  I  was  called  upon  almost  at 
once  to  examine  some  ten  prospects  that  had  been  located 
and  a  little  worked  by  an  Eastern  company.  We  were  off 
the  next  morning  early  for  a  long  day's  work,  as  these 
claims  were  scattered  along  the  course  of  O-Be-Joyful 
gulch,  and  while  it  does  not  take  long  to  decide  upon  a 
prospect  hole,  after  the  surrounding  country  rocks  com- 
prising the  geological  formation  is  learned,  still  ten  for  one 
day's  work — Sunday  at  that — was  considerable.  I  am 
thankful  to  say  they  turned  out  a  little  better  than  the 
average  of  such  groups,  as  six  of  them  showed  evidences 
enough  to  prosecute  work  upon  further,  and  only  four 
utterly  worthless. 

A  circumstance  occurred  between  myself  and  the 
superintendent  of  the  property,  whicli  I  cannot  help  rela- 
ting, as  it  illustrates  one  of  the  phases  of  mining,  and  how 
prone  men  are  to  lead  themselves  astray.  Amongst  the 
last  claims  seen,  was  one  situated  very  high  up  on  the 
mountain  top,  entailing  a  climb  of  some  1,200  feet  up,  to 
see  where  the  discovery  was  made  and  the  work  done.     I 


78  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY,  ■     * 

was  taken  to  an  opening  on  another  claim  at  the  foot  of 
the  hill,  from  which  some  high  assays  had  been  obtamed, 
and  informed  that  as  the  claim  I  was  to  report  on  was  the  ex- 
tension on  the  same  vein,  I  could  use  what  I  saw  here  as  the 
basis  of  a  report.  I  looked  at  the  dump  and  then  enquired 
if  "they  were  interested  in  this  property." 

"No  we  are  not,  but  ours  is  just  the  same  as  this." 

"Well"  I  replied  "I  only  know  in  this  kind  of  work 
"the  ground  that  I  actually  examine.  I  am  going  up  to 
"your  claim  and  expect  you  to  come  with  me." 

"All  right"  he  said,  "but  it  is  a  very  hard  climb." 

"That  makes  no  difference  to  me." 

We  started  having  a  good  trail  two-thirds  of  the  way, 
and  the  rest — until  a  trail  is  made — would  bother  a  "burro." 
Arrived  at  the  discovery  shaft  I  found  a  well  mineralized 
true  fissure  vein,  and  a  showing  that  caused  me  to  say, 
"this  is  not  the  same  vein  as  that  where  we  stopped." 

I  saw  my  man's  face  elongate  as  he  replied: 

"Why  we  always  thought  so,  it  seems  to  be  the  same 
"course,  and  since  they  have  obtained  such  good  assays,  we 
"have  thought  this  to  be  one  of  our  best  properties." 

"So  it  is"  I  replied  "barring  its  present  inaccessibility, 
"it  is  very  much  better  than  the  one  below,  for  here  you 
"have  twelve  inches  of  gold  quartz,  well  enough  mineral- 
"ized  to  be  pay  if  there  was  a  stamp  mill  near  by." 

"Ah!"  said  he,  "I  remember  now,  two  years  ago  I 
"had  an  assay  of  ^40  per  ton  in  gold  from  near  the  top; 
"but  all  of  this  country  carries  silver,  so  I  did  not  believe 
"that  the  returns  were  right." 

"They  were  right"  I  said,  "and  here  is  the  reason,  on 
"the  other  side  of  this  mountain  or  ridge  is  Swan  basin, 
"the  country  rock  changes  there  and  the  fissures  carry  gold 
"ores,  the  same  country  rock  must  come  under  this  ridge 
"to  this  side,  and  the  crevice  of  this  claim  reaches  down 
"into  it.     It  is  from  that  rock  that  your  vein  filling  and  ore 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTV.  79 

"supply  comes,  and  if  I  am  correct  we  can  get  furtlier 
"proof,  as  \vc  go  down  the  mountain  we  will  follow  the 
"outcrop,  and  as  the  erosion  allows  us  to  get  deeper  down 
"on  the  vein  formation  it  will  probably  widen  and  there  is 
"a  possibility  of  finding  a  telluride   quartz  with  this  vein." 

About  700  feet  down  we  found  where  the  vein  widened 
to  over  ten  feet  between  walls,  and  I  obtained  some  nice 
quartz  specimens  showing  the  presence  of  tellurium. 

With  this  result  my  party  was  well  satisfied;  but  sup- 
posing I  had  taken  his  word  that  the  vein  below  was  the 
same  as  the  one  belonging  to  this  company,  as  another 
expert  did  who  followed  me  a  few  weeks  after,  and  en- 
dorsed my  report  throughout  except  this  claim,  and  stated 
that  he  did  not  understand  how  I  could  call  that  gold  bear- 
ing quartz;  but  he  did  not  tell  the  party  to  whom  the  re- 
port was  made  that  he  did  not  take  the  trouble  to  climb 
up  and  actually  examine  their  claim,  but  accepted  the 
statement  that  the  claim  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  was  identical 
with  the  one  he  should  have  seen. 

The  gangue  in  this  lower  claim  is  calc-spar  with  a 
little  galena  and  some  fine  particles  of  gray  copper  that 
runs  high  and  is,  of  course,  a  silver  bearing  vein;  but  has 
no  more  to  do  with  the  vein  on  the  mountain  top  than  if  it 
was  a  fissure  filled  \\ith  blue  mud. 

We  cannot  be  too  careful  and  painstaking  in  this  kimd 
of  work  ;  very  frequently  there  is  the  expenditure  of  many 
thousands  of  dollars  and  perhaps  the  probity  and  honor  of 
a  mining  company's  officers,  depending  on  the  statement 
made  by  an  expert.  With  such  weights  in  the  balance  of 
careful  or  careless  work,  it  seems  to  me  always  best  to 
climb  the  hill,  even  if  it  happens  to  be  three  times  1,200 
feet,  than  to  allow  a  chance  for  error. 

The  men  in  actual  charge  of  properties  do  not  have  the 
opportunity  for  a  practical  knowledge  by  comparison  over 
large  tracts  of  country,  and  many  different  mining  sections, 


8o  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

the  same  as  men  following  the  professional  part  of  the 
trade ;  and  v^ery  frequently,  as  was  the  case  here,  the  super- 
intendent honestly  believed  that  their  vein  was  the  same  as 
the  other,  merely  because  a  line  could  be  drawn  beiu>ee?i  two 
points,  and  knew  nothing  about  the  difference  in  the  rock 
formations,  which  really  would  govern  the  character  of 
ores  even  if  the  crevices  were  the  same,  which  I  ver}'  much 
doubt,  as  the  course  taken  from  the  top  of  the  hill  carries 
the  gold  vein  several  hundred  feet  away  from  the  one  con- 
taining the  calc-spar. 

It  is  such  facts  as  the  above  and  those  recorded  in 
previous  chapters,  isolated  instances  though  they  are,  that 
are  the  keynotes  to  geological  sections,  and  enables  one 
afterwards  to  fit  the  different  points  together  into  one  har- 
monious whole,  and  reason  out  the  structure  of  very  many 
square  miles  of  rocks;  and  I  can  assure  my  readers  that  it  is 
no  childs  play,  but  requires  years  of  toil,  close  study  of  what 
others  have  done,  and  constant  practice,  never  losing  sight 
of  the  principles  of — shall  I  say — world  making,  and  care- 
fully working  out  each  locality  by  itself  upon  such  princi- 
ples. Avoiding,  of  all  things,  being  biased,  or  having  your 
judgment  warped  by  the  knowledge  of  some  other  section 
that  you  are  already  perfectly  familiar  with,  and  be  inclined 
to  try  and  force  the  present  to  what  you  knew  before. 

It  is  this  that  causes  more  loss  in  mining  than  any- 
thing else,  aside  from  out  and  out  rascality,  and  why  so 
many  mining  men  successful  in  one  part  of  the  country, 
which  they  had  to  thoroughly  understand  to  start  with, 
fail,  and  miserably  fail  when  they  change  to  a  new  mining 
section. 

I  hope  this  kind  of  preaching  will  do  some  practical 
good ;  these  are  facts  that  cannot  be  stated  too  often  or 
too  forcibly  for  the  good  of  all  concerned;  as  what  is  for 
the  good  of  the  individual  is  for  the  good  of  the  community, 
the  good  of  the  community  is  the  good  of  the  State,  the 


GUNNISON.  THE  BONANZA  COUNTV.  8 1 

good  of  the  State  results  in  benefit  to  the   nation,  and  na- 
tions make  the  world. 

There  is  not  much  more  to  be  said  about  O-be-Joyful 
basin,  as  prospectors  appear  to  be  bothered  with  what  they 
find,  and  do  not  push  work.  There  is  primitive  and  erup- 
tive «jranites,  there  is  cretaceous  quartzites  and  slates,  with 
tertiary  sandstones,  shales  and  conglomerate,  all  having 
mineral  veins  breaking  through  them,  and  the  ores  gov- 
erned by  the  countrj'  rocks  through  which  they  pass. 
All  of  this  in  a  space  of  three  miles  square,  it  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at  that  prospectors  become  mixed,  to  say 
nothing  about  a  mine  expert  fresh  from  Boston. 

We    were    back    to    the    hotel    at    lo  p.    m.,  to   learn 
that  there  was  a  call  for   a  longer,  and    what    proved    to , 
be  a  harder  trip  early  next  day. 

This  morning  found  three  of  us  on  the  road,  with  the 
head  of  the  North  Fork  of  Anthracite  Creek  as  the  des- 
tination. The  route  was  up  Slate  River  to  Pittsburg, 
hence  up  Poverty  gulch,  to  the  dividing  ridge,  near  the 
"Little  Nell"  mining  claim,  and  which  route  and  locality 
was  partially  described  in  a  former  chapter. 

From  the  crest  we  had  a  very  steep  trail  to  descend, 
made  zig-zag  down  an  eroded  gully  on  the  mountain  side, 
not  making  more  than  twenty-five  feet  descent  on  each 
turn,  for  nearly  800  feet  down. 

The  country  was  new  to  me.  and  to  our  guide  also, 
as  we  found  out;  but  all  things,  mining  business  as  well  as 
others  must  have  a  "first  time;"  within  half  a  mile  of  the 
prospects  the  trail — such  as  it  wa.s — ended,  as  far  as  the 
use  of  our  horses  were  concerned.  I  had  an  excellent 
one,  light  weight,  quick  as  a  cat,  good  for  trails,  speedy 
when  necessary,  and  withal  gentle  as  a  house  pet.  Fanny 
and  I  had  many  a  climb  afterwards,  and  she  never  re- 
fused to  follow  anywhere,  I  led. 

After  leaving  the  horses  we  soon  lost  the  trail  entirely 


82  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.    • 

and  divided  to  try  and  find  the  property,  I  taking  the 
upper  side  or  mountain  top,  that  I  might  have  all  of  the 
view  possible. 

1  saw  the  workings  on  the  claims  first  and  fi-om  where 
I  was  could  direct  the  others  to  it  and  soon  was  on  the 
ground  of  the  Silver  King  claim  also.  A  couple  of  years' 
assessment  work  comprised  the  development,  made  to 
show  the  most  by  having  an  open  cut  on  the  hill  side,  and 
exposing  the  ore  body  three  to  four  feet  wide,  principally 
composed  of  galena.  Some  carbonates  also,  resulting  from 
oxidization  of  the  sulphides,  and  with  a  calc-spar  gangue. 
This  ore  stood  up  twelve  feet  on  each  side  of  the  opening, 
while  the  surface  showed  galena  croppings  forty  feet  north- 
.west  and  250  feet  southwest,  with  a  continuation  on  the 
surface  of  150  feet  more  of  vein  material.  The  outcrop  is 
in  cretaceous  shale,  and  it  was  on  this  mountain  side  that  I 
first  obtained  any  evidences  of  fossils,  here  finding  casts  of 
the  fossil  shell-fish  bwccravius.  This  shale  had  been  par- 
tially changed  to  a  slate  by  metamorphism,  afterwards  I 
found  the  granite  showing  further  down  the  mountain. 

The  Silver  King  made  a  much  better  showing  for  the 
amount  of  work  done  than  I  anticipated,  and  when  prop- 
erly developed  ought  to  be  one  of  the  regular  producing 
mines  of  the  section,  with  a  surprise  ahead  for  the  owners 
as  depth  is  gained;  for  the  ores  will  certainly  increase  in 
quality  and  character,  soon  after  depth  is  made  below  the 
shale,  and  where  the  vein  enters  the  granite. 

Five  hundred  feet  below  the  "Silver  King"  is  the  "Bay 
Billy"  mining  claim  which  shows  outcrops  of  six  to  eight 
feet  of  calc-spar  well  mineralized,  carrying  a  value  across 
the  vein  of  ^22  per  ton,  an  excellent  ore  to  mine  and  con- 
centrate; test  on  the  latter  gave  by  a  crude  process  over 
$160  per  ton.  In  practical  work  this  ore  ought  to  concen- 
trate ten  tons  into  one  and  have  a  milling  value  of  over 
^200  per  ton.      These  are   prospectively    more    valuable 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.    .        83 

properties  than  the  surface  material  shows,  owing  to  the 
near  proximity  of  a  better  country  rock,  into  which  the 
veins  must  pass.  It  is  only  a  question  of  practical  intelli- 
gent work  to  make  these  properties  of  large  producing 
value. 

Since  my  visit  good  trails  have  been  made  and  addi- 
tional work  shows  the  property  ahead  already  of  what  I 
intimated  in  my  report. 

Examining  these  Silver  King  and  Bay  Billy  mining 
claims  resulted  in  being  the  hardest  trip  that  I  made  the 
whole  season,  as  having  missed  the  trail  coming  we  did  not 
find  it  going  out.  I  struck  out  for  where  I  thought  it  ought 
to  be  and  fetched  up  at  the  head  of  a  rift  in  the  mountain, 
standing  on  a  narrow  ledge  that  I  could  not  turn  around 
on ;  I  did  not  have  hands  and  feet  enough,  being  loaded 
with  some  forty  pounds  of  mine  samples  and  country  rock. 
Below  me  was  the  rift  running  down  800  feet,  filled  with 
small  stones,  and  an  eight-foot  jump  into  it.  There  was 
no  help  for  it  I  had  to  jump  and  alighted  upright  starting 
an  avalanche  of  small  rocks,  in  company  with  which  I 
went  down  that  800  feet  in  less  than  two  minutes.  As  I 
neared  the  bottom,  I  thought  it  looked  as  if  the  rift  sud- 
denly ended,  and  was  fortunate  enough  to  catch  a  small 
pine  branch  and  work  onto  solid  rock  in  time  to  look  down 
forty  feet  straight.  Over  this  small  precipice,  tons  of  loose 
stones  were  pouring  that  my  rapid  descent  had  put  in 
motion.  It  seemed  a  narrow  escape  after  I  had  climbed 
down  to  the  bottom  by  roots  of  bushes  and  clefts  in  the 
rock. 

Thirsty,  hungry  and  tired  I  could  look  up  3,OCK)  feet 
that  I  had  to  climb  to  get  back  to  the  Poverty  gulch  side . 
it  was  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  not  a  mouthful 
since  seven  a.  m. 

Moving  along  the  bottoms  in  search  of  a  trail  I  had 
heard  of,  I  came  across   my  comrades,  who  had  just  been 


84  ■  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

through  a  similar  experience  and  appeared  to  be  more  used 
up  than  myself. 

The  trail  was  soon  found,  and  nearly  i.ooo  feet  up  we 
came  to  the  first  water,  drank  the  little  spring  dr>',  and 
waited  for  it  to  fill  up  again,  this  was  repeated  three  or  four 
times.  Above  this  we  came  to  some  prospectors  tents, 
where  my  friends  stopped,  completely  tired  out.  I  had  to 
go  on  as  I  must  start  for  a  ride  early  next  morning.  On 
reaching  my  horse  I  found  Fannie  had  cast  herself,  receiv- 
ing a  good  choking,  and  was  as  badly  played  out  as  my- 
self, and  unable  to  carry  more  than  my  sacks  of  rock. 
This  nearly  broke  me  all  up,  but  it  would  be  moonlight  and  I 
was  not  going  to  lose  any  ground  by  going  back  for  some- 
thing to  eat.  It  was  a  beautiful  moonlight  night,  so  clear 
that  as  we  reached  the  crest  after  nine  p.  m.  I  halted  to 
enjoy  it.  Far  west  could  be  seen  the  borders  of  Utah,  and 
under  the  magic  influences  of  the  night,  the  moonlight  and 
surroundings,  it  seemed  then,  and  now  as  I  write,  as  a 
reminiscence  of  dreamland.  From  out  of  this  beauty  on 
the  one  side,  I  stepped  into  a  cloud  on  the  other  side,  and 
could  not  see  ten  feet  ahead  of  me.  I  had  to  feel  my  way 
for  500  feet  down  the  trail,  then  we  were  below  the  cloud 
and  could  make  fair  progress.  Before  coming  to  Pittsburg 
I  remembered  a  prospecting  acquaintance,  his  place  I  found, 
told  my  story  and  in  twenty  minutes  a  supper  was  read)% 
although  the  boys  were  in  bed  and  asleep  after  a  hard  day's 
work. 

Such  a  meal — everything  was  good — as  one  might 
expect  it  would  be — seven  o'clock  a.  m.  to  after  ten  p.  m- 
without  a  bite,  after  all  of  that  climbing.  An  hour's  rest 
made  good  for  the  remaining  distance  to  Crested  Butte; 
here  I  arrived  at  three  o'clock  a.  m.  feeling  completel}- 
played  out;  but  withal  very  much  satisfied  that  I  had 
pushed  through,  and  now  know  nearly  what  my  powers  ot 
endurance  are. 


eUNNISON,  THE  BCiNANZA  COUNTY.  S5 

With  the  working  of  these  properties  that  I  visited 
much  better  and  shorter  trails  have  been  made,  so  that  the 
same  trials  will  not  have  to  be  encountered  on  another 
trip. 

The  next  day  I  was  off  after  dinner  for  a  sixteen  snile 
ride  to  Elko,  over  a  most  excellent  road  from  Crested 
Butte  through  Elko,  along  the  banks  of  the  East  River, 
which  heads  at  the  foot  of  Bellevue  and  Baldy  Mountains. 
This  river  receives  its  start  from  a  beauty  of  a  little  lake 
just  on  the  divide  from  the  Rock  Creek  slope.  Here  is  an 
extremely  easy  pass  and  grade  for  the  wagon  road — it 
might  be  of  great  advantage  to  a  railroad  one  of  these  days 
when  the  country  beyond  is  sufficiently  developed  to  warrant 
the  building — and  at  six  p.  m.  I  was  at  Elko.  Here  the 
Central  Mining  and  Milling  Company  have  laid  out  a  town, 
built  a  forty  ton  ore  concentrator,  sawmill,  store  and  offices. 
It  is  all  under  the  direct  charge  of  Mr.  J.  H.  McCoy,  he 
also  being  one  of  the  principal  stockholders. 

I  was  most  pleasantly  entertained  by  Mr.  McCoy  and 
lady  for  three  days — snowing  and  raining  most  of  the  time; 
and  only  learned  that  I  must  come  back  to  stay  as  soon  as 
possible.  For  here  was  a  locality  that  showed  evidences 
of  more  mineral  and  fissure  vein  results  than  I  had  dreamed 
of. 

The  evening  of  September  ist  found  me  back  at  Crested 
Butte,  finishing  up  local  notes,  preparatory  to  seeing  all 
that  the  Rock  Creek  country  had  to  show. 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


Slate  River — Geology  of  Treasury  Mt.    and  Vicinity 

— Ha-wk-Eye  Mine — Cretaceous  Rocks  Here — 

Rocks  of  the  East  Slope — Veins  of  the 

Head  of  Slate  River  and  Rock  Creek 

— Paradise  Basin,  Bellevue  and 

Baldy  Mt. — Crystal  Basin — 

Eureka  Mine--Shakespeare 

Mine  and  Other  Veins — Gov. 

Kearney's  Claims — 

Marble. 


As  I  rode  up  Slate  river  on  September  4,  1882,  re- 
turning to  get  a  fuller  knowledge  of  Rock  Creek  country, 
I  was  enabled  to  get  a  few  points  in  the  geological  struc- 
ture, that  in  the  future  fitting  together  of  the  rocks,  I  found 
to  mean  much. 

Let  any  one  interested  in  rock  structure  follow  the 
road  to  Pittsburg,  and  in  the  wagon  road  cuts,  he  sees  an 
older  sedimentary  rock  than  those  occurring  with  the  ter- 
tiary coal  measures  at  Crested  Butte.  By  the  roadside  is 
cretaceous  shales,  partly  metamorphosed  to  a  slate,  con- 
taining casts  of  Inoccrarniis,  the  characteristic  fossil  of  that 
age.  These  shale  beds  dip  nearly  30°  on  the  average,  and 
can  be  followed  along  Slate  river  for  nearly  fourteen  miles, 
to  the  top  of  Treasury  mountain.  Above  this,  for  nearly 
half  the  distance  is  a  bed  of  granite  porphyry,  of  varying 
thickness — six  to  twelve  feet  I  saw  it — and  above  that 
again  the  tertiary  coal  rocks.  Here  was  food  for  thought, 
as  it  is  just  possible  that  this  condition  of  things  may  very 
much  limit  the  coal  area  of  the  Crested  Butte  basin,  and 
cut  off  a  short  distance  from  that  town,  the  two  lower  and 
most  valuable  coal  seams. 

There  was  another  strange  thing  I  perceived  had  oc- 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTV.  87 

curred;  as  I  examined  the  coal  beds  I  found  that  they 
dipped  slif^htly  away  from  the  recent  lava  beds,  which  had 
been  erupted  through  them,  showing  its  influence  in  rais- 
ing those  measures.  While  on  the  contrary  the  beds  of  the 
cretaceous  rocks  dipped  toward  the  granite  porphyry  cen- 
tres, that  showed  strongest  the  eruption  of  that  rock, 
through  the  sedimentary  beds  of  the  older  age.  Evidently 
opposite  results  produced  b}'  similar  action  in  different 
ages.  It  might  be  explained  possibly  by  the  fact,  that  the 
granite  porphyry  eruption  was  so  enormous  locally,  that 
its  weight  graduall)'  depressed  the  then  plastic  sedimentary 
rocks  of  the  cretaceous  age — ^just  by  mere  weight  or  ton- 
nage. Should  this  surmise  prove  to  be  correct  it  would 
also  account  for  the  tertiary  strata  filling  in  the  depressed 
cretaceous  basins  in  after  ages  and  building  up  in  the 
gorges  between  the  mountains  of  granite  porphyry. 

Later  on  the  recent  lava  eruption  could  only  upraise, 
it  did  not  overflow  enough  to  depress. 

At  Pittsburg  we  dined  with  one  of  the  owners  of  the 
Hawk-eye  mine,  a  property  that  has  some  characteristics 
worth  looking  into,  I  found  zinc  sulphides  that  gave  500 
ounces  of  silver  per  ton — pretty  high  grade  zinc  for  Colo- 
rado— as  well  as  some  other  things,  that  set  me  to  looking 
more  closely  as  I  rode  on  up  the  river  bank. 

Cretaceous  shales,  or  slates  were  the  country  rock,  and 
it  is  well  fissured;  very  many  mineral  veins  occurring,  but 
of  low  grade  ores. 

To  one  acquainted  only  with  the  mining  districts  of 
the  east  slope,  where  the  fissures  carrying  mineral  break 
through ;  for  a  time  the  formations  here  are  more  or  less 
a  puzzle.  There  the  rocks,  are  either  granites,  porphyries, 
or  metamorphic  rocks,  of  an  age,  ante-dating  possibly  the 
carboniferous  period — very  hard,  the  fissures  much  nar- 
rower, hard  quartz  gangue,  ores  varying  somewhat,  and 
apparently  of  a  wholly  different  method  of  occurrence. 


8S  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

Here  the  country  rocks  are  soft,  the  fissures  break 
through  partly  metamorphosed  shales;  this  kind  of  country 
rock  crumbles,  drops  into  the  fissure,  mixes  country  rock 
and  gangue,  so  that  it  is  almost  impossible  at  times  to  have 
a  certainty  of  defined  walls.  Through  such  rocks  fissures 
are  more  or  less  irregular,  much  wider  than  if  they  occurred 
through  firmer  surface  rocks,  of  lower  grade  ores  on  an 
average,  as  this  character  of  country  rock  adds  no  value  to 
vein  material;  but  rather  for  the  reasons  stated  detracts 
from  it.  So  that  when  the  prospector  gets  a  good  mineral 
showing  here,  generally  galena  ores,  and  has  high  hopes 
of  success,  all  at  once  his  ore  is  gone,  and  only  pieces  ot 
country  rock  cemented  by  silica,  or  frequently  calc-spar 
gangue,  remains  as  an  evidence  that  he  ever  had  any  min- 
eral showing  at  all.  He  cannot  understand  it  and  in  many 
instances  throws  up  the  prospect  and  leaves  disgusted  and 
discouraged,  cursing  his  luck,  and  the  country'. 

Now  it  is  not  the  fault  of  the  country;  I  am  not  going 
to  apologize  for  it,  but  will  attempt  to  explain.  These 
mineral  fissures  all  lead  to  a  harder  and  better  country 
rock,  viz:  primitive  granite,  and  when  this  section  is  prop- 
erly worked  and  proved  it  will  be  found  that  with  the 
change  in  country  rock  these  veins  will  pass  between 
smooth  walls,  narrower  crevices,  have  a  larger  percentage 
of  mineral  in  proportion  to  gangue,  and  of  a  much  higher 
grade.  The  sulphides  will  change  more  from  galena  to  a 
copper,  and  carry  more  value  in  gold. 

The  geological  formation  proves  this,  and  it  is  a  for- 
unate  thing  that  this  is  so;  I  mean  that  there  is  some  dif- 
ficulty in  getting  to  the  real  values  of  this  section,  as  the 
rest  of  the  State  of  Colorado  wants  some  show  for  exis- 
tence, and  were  the  gold  and  silver  values  as  readily  ob- 
tained here  as  in  many  other  sections,  these  precious  metals 
would    soon    depreciate    in    purchasing   power    somewhat. 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTS'.  S9 

The  mineralizing  action  in   this   country   has  been  simply 
marvellously  enormous. 

There  is  large  returns  for  the  proper  employment  of 
capital,  it  costs  money  to  reach  the  depths,  and  it  will  cost 
money  to  take  care  of  the  water  that  will  be  encountered 
in  these  large  open  fissures.  All  that  is  as  nothing  in  these 
days  of  enterprise  and  abundant  capital.  Show  the  busi- 
ness man  of  means,  a  certain  profit,  proportionate  to  risk, 
and  he  will  try;  and  here  by  the  use  of  inteligence,  money 
and  grit,  he  can  succeed  beyond  anything  I  dare  to  put  in 
figures. 

Nature  has  said,  "Here  I  have  done  more  work  in 
"storing  ores,  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world,  covered  b)- 
"the  same  surface  of  square  miles,  wrest  it  from  me  if  you 
"can  and  dare." 

Nature  does  not  lie,  and  man  can  and  dare. 

Fannie  and  I  had  company,  this  trip  it  is  quite  a 
scramble  over  the  Slate  divide  to  the  head  of  Rock  Creek, 
and  at  times  we  saw  things  that  we  wanted  to  examine 
closer,  and  did  not  always  follow  the  trail,but  went  straight 
for  what  we  wished  to  see.  Looking  back  once  after  a 
hard  scramble,  the  horse  keeping  close  to  me,  I  was  some- 
what surprised  to  see  our  friend  coming  on  all  fours.  I  did 
not  realize  before  that  the  climb  was  so  steep. 

I  had  been  told  to  come  to  Elko  and  make  myself  at 
home.  I  did  so,  and  enjoyed  it  thoroughly;  who  would 
not?  something  new  to  see  and  learn  every  day.  The 
head  of  Rock  Creek  with  its  strong  mineral  veins  every  few 
hundred  feet,  only  needing  development  to  prove  their  im- 
mense wealth  ;  Paradise  basin  the  same,  Bellevue  Moun- 
tain and  Baldy  cut  through  and  through  in  every  direction 
with  ore  bearing  fissures,  some  of  very  high  grade  too. 

A  wagon  road  had  just  been  completed  to  Crystal 
basin,  three  miles  from  here.  At  the  head  of  this  basin  is 
Treasury  Mountain,  over  13,200  feet  high,  on    top   of  it  is 


90  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

the  Eureka  properties  with  fourteen  feet  of  soHd  ore,  aver- 
aging $45  per  ton  net.  Galena  and  copper  sulphides  from 
the  base  of  these  ores.  On  one  side  of  the  basin  is  the 
great  Shakespeare  vein.  I  climbed  to  the  dividing  ridge 
from  the  next  basin — the  one  General  Grant  named  as  Carl 
Schurz — so  that  I  could  get  the  Shakespeare  formation  in 
place,  and  broke  mineralized  rock  across  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  of  surface  ground. 

This  vein  is  a  flat  one,  that  is,  it  follows  a  course  of 
cleavage  between  stratified  rocks,  having  the  same  dip  as 
far  as  can  be  seen  or  is  developed.  In  the  next  basin  I 
could  see  primitive  granite  outcropping,  so  that  I  knew  all 
of  these  veins  pass  soon  into  that  rock.  There  is  almost 
as  positive  evidence  of  this  in  the  gangue  and  character  of 
ores  of  these  veins,  as  if  it  was  already  a  proved  fact  by  de- 
velopment. 

Across  the  basin  from  the  Shakespeare  is  another  flat 
vein,  traceable  for  two  and  a  half  miles  continuous,  with  an 
average  of  ten  feet  of  ore  solid,  and  all  of  a  shipping  grade. 
It  hardly  seems  credible,  but  any  one  can  see  it,  the  largest 
continuous  ore  body  of  strong  pay  ore  now  known.  Its 
future  output  is  beyond  computation.  Across  these  flat 
veins  and  their  enclosing  sedimentary  rocks,  break  many 
vertical  veins,  smaller  in  size  of  fissure,  and  in  many  in- 
stances, carrying  a  higher  per  centage  ofsilver  value.  These 
probably  in  depth  pass  more  quickly  into  the  granite,  and 
it  was  these  vertical  veins  and  their  ores  that  helped  to  con- 
vince me,  that  all  of  the  veins  of  this  section  and  geological 
age  would  in  depth  reach  the  same  underlying  country 
rock,  and  proportionately  increase  in  value  as  depth  is 
gained  in  working. 

I  went  one  day  to  see  some  properties  managed  and 
partly  owned  by  Gov.  Kearney,  of  Kansas.  There  is  quite 
a  group  of  them  in  this  Crystal  basin  on  the  Galena  Moun- 
tain slope.     In  one  of  the  vertical  veins  some  very  high 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTV.  9! 

grade  shipping-  ore  is  being  taken  out,  and  considerable 
work  had  been  done  on  others  of  the  claims,  not  with  the 
the  very  best  results,  whatex-er  the  intention  was,  and  mis- 
takes made  just  from  the  lack  of  a  little  knowledge  of  the 
rock,  it  often  happens,  and  I  suppose  always  will. 

I  thought  I  was  a  good  climber,  but  the  Governor 
who  showed  me  around,  in  spite  of  his  gray  hairs,  gave  me 
nearly  enough.  He  is  the  first  man  I  ever  met,  who 
seemed  fresher  than  myself,  after  such  a  climb  as  we  had 
that  day. 

In  this  same  basin  is  a  bed  of  marble,  it  appeared  to 
be  originall)^  a  conglomerate,  composed  of  small  rounded 
quartz  pebbles,  cemented  by  a  lime  deposit.  Subsequent 
meta-morphism  changed  it  to  a  marble;  it  ought  to  make  a 
beautiful  and  unique  stone  when  dressed.  The  quartz  peb- 
bles sparkling,  when  polished,  in  the  lime  matrix,  ought  to 
make  a  finish  for  inside  work,  that  would  give  a  beauty  of 
finish  surpassing  many  of  the  marbles  that  are  now  used 
for  that  purpose. 


92  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


Elko  a  Cash  Market   for  Ores — Concentrating  Mill- 
First  Day's  Run — Such  Mills  Needed  in  all  Min- 
ing  Camps — Prospects    Around    Elko — Some 
Geology — Copper  Creek — Pass  to  Connun- 
drum    Gulch  —  Observations    About  — 

Capital  Required — Dividing  Ridge  of  Con- 

nundrum  and  Castle  Creek — Bellevue 

Mountain  its  Possibilities — Lower 

Rock  Creek  Country — Roads 

of  Gunnison    County — 

Mines  on   Road  to, 

and  Upon  Sheep 

Mt.,  Etc. 


While  this  Rock  Creek  .section  has  not  been  to  this 
date  ranked  as  an  ore  producer  in  any  sense  of  the  term,  ex- 
cept perhaps  the  Eureka  mines,  and  it  might  be  a  question, 
if  past  shipments  from  here  have  not  been  more  as  belong- 
ing to  the  Slate  River  section,  than  to  Rock  Creek — the 
wagon  road  finished  into  Crystal  basin  this  fall  should 
bring  this  territory  to  the  front  at  once  on  the  opening  of 
another  season. 

They  will  have  a  cash  market  at  Elko  at  the  hands  of 
the  Central  Mining  and  Milling  Co.,  where  this  company 
have  put  in  a  forty-ton  concentrator  with  the  avowed  pur- 
pose of  making  the  ores  of  this  district  shipping  ores,  out 
of  all  produced  below  the  grade  of  hand-sorted  ores,  and 
that  will  concentrate. 

I  was  kept  here  a  number  of  days  to  see  this  new  mill 
start,  which  I  was  more  than  willing  to  do,  from  the  fact 
that  for  three  years  past  I  have  strenously  advocated  the 
use  of  these  mills  in  all  mining  camps,  rather  than  the  num- 
berless reduction  processes  that  almost  every  mining  dis- 
trict, has  idle  monuments  in  their  midst;  standing  adver- 
tisements of  incapacity  and  ignominous  failure. 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  93 

The  mill  was  to  use  a  patent  slimes  table,  which  if 
proved  a  success  in  Colorado  ores,  would  mark  a  revolu- 
tion in  ore  saving. 

The  trouble  heretofore  has  been  that  in  the  gangue  to 
be  concentrated,  the  greater  proportion  of  value  worth 
saving,  existed  in  the  form  of  rich  sulphides,  such  as  gray 
copper,  ruby  silver,  etc.,  etc.  These  minerals  are  so  very 
brittle  that  the  crushing  power  used  has  always  reduced 
such  sulphides  to  slimes,  and  the  machinery  heretofore 
principally  used  failed  to  save  and  separate  the  slimes. 
Consequently  the  object  of  concentrators  has  been  to  make 
as  little  slimes  as  possible,  with  a  practical  result  giving  a 
wide  difference  from  the  theoretical  result.  That  is  the  ores 
were  not  concentrated  to  as  high  a  grade  practically,  as 
theoretical  tests  showed  they  could  be. 

The  patentee  of  the  slimes  table,  Mr.  Jno.  B.  Wilford, 
had  charge  of  the  building  of  the  mill  throughout;  all  that 
was  required  of  him  was  to  build  a  mill  that  would  run,  and 
do  its  work.  This  he  certainly  accomplished  to  the  satis- 
faction, not  only  of  the  owners,  but  of  ev^ery  one  who  has 
examined  the  mill  as  well  as  myself 

I  put  it  thus  strongly  from  the  fact,  that  the  patentee 
claimed  a  saving  of  ninety  per  cent,  of  any  gray  copper  in 
the  ore  being  treated.  As  this  was  the  point  where  I  knew 
other  concentrating  mills  failed,  I  certainl)'  had  personal 
doubts,  and  strong  ones ;  though  I  did  not  feel  called  upon 
to  express  them  until  the  mill  had  a  chance.  When  the 
mill  started  up  I  was  present,  and  while  there  was  no  gray 
copper  or  rub}'  silver  ore,  to  run  upon,  I  saw  those  table 
saving  an  oxide,  that  settled  it.  I  had  not  a  word  to  say 
except  praise,  as  there  was  the  machinery,  doing  more  than 
was  claimed  for  it,  and  if  they  could  save  such  an  o.xide  as 
I  saw  them  doing,  they  certainly  could  save  and  separate 
the  sulphides,  no  matter  how  fine  they  might  be  crushed. 


94  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY, 

I  feel  that  a  full  description  of  the  mill  would  not  be 
out  of  place  here. 

The  power  is  water  and  ample  for  three  times  the  mills 
present  plant  of  machinery.  The  capacity  now  is  forty 
tons  per  twenty-four  hours.  The  mill  is  furnished  with  a 
sixty-ton  Blake  crusher,  twenty-six  inch  Cornish  rolls  of 
the  latest  and  most  improved  patterns,  three  sets  of  Brad- 
ford's improved  ore  jigs,  and  the  slimes  are  saved  and 
separated  by  a  Wilford's  slimes  table,  which,  as  asserted 
above,  is  the  most  successful  machine  of  the   kind  I  know. 

The  power  comes  from  a  forty-nine  foot  head  of  water 
through  a  thirteen  and  a  half  inch  Lefifel  water-wheel  with 
the  latest  and  most  improved  attachments,  such  as  gover- 
nor, etc. 

The  modus  operandi  is  as  follows:  the  ore  is  loaded 
into  a  car  from  the  ore  bins,  which  have  a  capacity  of  over 
900  tons;  from  the  car  to  the  crusher,  thence  to  the  rolls 
by  elevator;  from  these  to  the  first  screen  of  six  meshes  tc^ 
the  inch,  the  ore  that  will  not  pass  this  screen  is  returned 
automatically  to  the  rolls;  the  second  screen  is  ten  meshes 
for  the  second  jig,  and  the  third  screen  is  twenty-four 
meshes  to  the  inch. 

The  success  of  the  whole  machinery  of  course  being 
based  on  the  even  sizing  of  ore  particles  as  shown  by  the 
above  grades  of  screens. 

Each  jig  saves  a  first  and  second  class  grade  of  con- 
centrates, as  well  as  sending  out  the  worthless  gangue. 
Never  before  has  there  been  such  a  perfect  success  in 
the  State  of  Colorado,  in  a  new  mill,  starting  into  work  as 
this  did  the  first  day  the  power  was  applied  and  running 
and  doing  work  as  if  it  had  always  been  going. 

The  merest  tyro  in  knowledge  of  mill  machinery  and 
ores,  cannot  help  but  be  impressed  with  the  economical  ar- 
rangement of  all  about  the  mill;  when  he  sees  that  the  ore 
is  fed  to  the  crusher,  and  all  is  automatic  from  that  point 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTV.  95 

to  the  ore  vats  under  the  jigs  and  slimes  tables.  Kven 
every  natural  advantage  of  the  ground,  upon  wliich  the 
building  stands  is  made  to  count,  and  nothing  forced  to  a 
point  that  made  great  cost  in  preparing  a  mill-site. 

The  first  day's  run  was  about  six  tons  of  very  lean 
ore,  of  about  eight  tons  raw  material  to  one  of  concentrates. 
For  one  to  take  a  handful  of  concentrates,  then  go  to  the 
natural  ore  and  compare  the  two,  it  did  not  seem  possible 
that  such  results  could  be  produced,  but  there  it  was. 

It  is  just  such  investments  as  this  that  all  mining 
camps  want,  and  not  reduction  works,  which  in  ninety-nine 
cases  out  of  100  are  merely  idle  monuments  of  stupid  invest- 
ments if  no  worse. 

This  was  one  of  the  most  interesting  days  1  have 
spent  in  this  part  of  the  country;  principally  because  I 
realize  personally  what  this  kind  of  work  means  to  mining 
men,  and  it  is  of  real  benefit  to  me  individually  to  see  what 
I  have  always  advocated,  proved  a  practical  success. 

The  mill  started  on  September  18,  1882,  and  run  con- 
stantly until  the  ore  on  hand  was  cleaned  up,  and  of  no  ore 
delivered  to  it  could  I  find,  but  that  a  material  advantage 
was  gained,  although  some  only  went  two  and  a  half  tons 
into  one,  which  is  very  low.  The  idea  of  concentration 
being  to  arrive  at  a  result  by  which  the  freight  and  treat- 
ment in  cost  of  reduction,  will  be  saved  on  the  gangue  or 
waste,  and  even  on  this  lowest  quantity  of  concentration, 
the  saving  on  one  and  a  ha^f  tons  was  equal  to  $47.50  on 
each  two  and  a  half  tons  of  raw  material  less  the  cost  of 
concentrating. 

In  and  around  this  Rock  Creek  country  in  the  imme- 
diate neighborhood  -of  Elko,  I  examined  many  prospects 
which  certainly  should  have  a  promising  future,  too  numer- 
ous in  fact  to  mention  individually ;  but  which  will  soon  be 
able  to  talk  for  themselves  if  pushed  by  the  owners,  to  the 


96  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. " 

development,  which  the  present  showings  certainly  seem  to 
warrant. 

Hearing  much  from  outside  rumor,  (this  Mr.  O.  R.  is 
a  very  irresponsible  individual),  of  Conundrum  gulch,  we 
concluded  to  have  a  look  at  it. 

On  Sunday  morning  September  loth,  Mr.  McCoy  and 
myself  took  an  early  start,  fine  bracing,  clear  and  beautiful 
was  the  air,  no  where  but  in  Colorado  do  we  have  such 
constant  treats.  It  was  such  a  morning  as  Theodore  Win- 
throp — that  fresh,  hearty  writer — described  when  he  said 
he  could  go  out  and  get  drunk  on  fresh  air  before  break- 
fast. 

We  started  early,  passing  over  the  divide  which  sepa- 
rates Rock  Creek  from  East  River.  This  divide  like  the 
one  between  the  Slate  and  Rock  Creek,  is  principally  cre- 
taceous shales,  more  or  less  fissured;  but  here  is  a  new 
illustration  in  the  geology  of  the  country.  A  dike  of  gran- 
ite porphyry  comes  up  through  these  shales  by  the  road- 
side; and  proves  what  I  had  advanced  as  theory  on  seeing 
the  mountains  of  this  granite  porphyry  in  other  localities. 
A  little  further  down  the  road  tertiary  shales,  unchanged, 
rest  upon  cretaceous  shales,  partially  metamorphosed  to 
slate,  without  the  eruptive  rock  between  as  seen  along  Slate 
River. 

We  breakfasted  at  Gothic  after  a  ten  mile  ride;  there 
are  many  good  things  in  this  neighborhood  and  I  regret 
extremely,  that  it  was  impossible  to  make  time  to  give  it 
the  thorough  examination  which  I  know  the  district 
merits.  The  finest  lumps  of  native  silver  I  ever  saw  pro- 
duced any  where  in  the  State  came  from  the  Virginia  mine 
at  Gothic. 

From  Gothic  our  route  lay  up  Copper  Creek,  follow- 
ing the  Sylvanite  road  as  far  as  it  kept  with  the  stream, 
from  there  on  the  county  was  making  a  wagon  road  over 
into  Conundruum  gulch. 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  97 

Our  climb  was  up  by  trail,  and  such  a  trail,  it  might 
have  been  good  with  ten  feet  of  snow  to  level  up  between 
boulders.  How  in  the  name — of  the  first  prospector — 
material  and  supplies  were  ever  packed  up  there,  is  a  con- 
nundrum  with  me  to  this  day.  The  elevation  of  the  pass 
must  verge  on  13,000  feet  above  sea  level.  In  one  shel- 
tered place  was  last  winter's  snow,  four  feet  thick  yet, 
through  it  the  trail  went. 

The  wagon  road,  now  building,  will  make  a  good  sum- 
mer road  without  doubt,  but  to  keep  it  open  in  winter  will 
need  rich  ores  to  be  produced  and  large  quantities  of  them. 

The  descent  into  Connundrum  is  not  nearly  so  bad  as 
the  ascent  from  Copper  Creek. 

We  pulled  up  at  the  camp  of  G.  A.  Jackson  and  party, 
who  have  comfortable  log  cabins  and  appear  to  be  satisfied 
that  they  have  one  of  the  Bonanza  districts  of  Gunnison 
County.  We  looked  at  several  prospects  that  same  after- 
noon, and  while  we  found  strong  true  fissures,  and  geological 
evidences  in  abundance  of  possibility  of  large  and  rich  ore 
bodies  to  be  opened  by  dev^elopment ;  this  work  and  actual 
proof  was  yet  lacking.  There  seemed  to  be  plenty  of 
natural  evidences  which  said  "go-ahead,"  and  as  this  party 
with  the  gentleman  named  had  made  up  their  minds  to 
stock  up  with  supplies  for  the  winter  and  work  it  through, 
I  sincerely  hope  that  the  spring  will  see  all  that  is  needed 
proved  in  fact,  as  well  as  theoretically,  viz:  actual  ship- 
ments commenced  of  ores  that  will  pay. 

I  think  that  they  are  there,  but  at  greater  depths  on 
an  average,  than  the  representatives  of  the  district  seem  to 
be  willing  to  allow. 

I  base  my  judgment  upon  the  following  observations: 
The  claims  that  I  saw  either  outcrop  in  primitive  rocks,  or 
through  their  covering  of  metamorphic  rocks.  The  fissures 
are  very  strong  and  free,  the  mineral  quite  evenly  dissimin- 
ated  through  the  gangue,  no  concentrated  pay  streaks  along 


98  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

either  walls,  nor  ore  chimneys  giving  pay  ore  from  or  near 
to  the  surface.  That  is  what  the  present  development 
shows.  As  a  whole,  I  do  not  consider  this  character  of 
formation  of  ore  bodies  a  real  objection,  from  the  fact,  that 
when  depth  does  reach  the  horizons  of  pay  ore,  they  will 
be  continuous  pay  throughout  nearly  the  whole  length  of 
the  veins,  and  not  divided  into  extremely  rich  ore  pockets 
or  chimneys  with  a  corresponding  amount  of  nearly  barren 
ground. 

Of  course,  it  is  impossible  to  say  at  what  depths 
such  ore  horizons  will  be  encountered,  but  that  they 
do  exist  I  am  confident  from  my  knowledge  of  rocks,  and 
the  method  of  occurrence  of  the  veins  here. 

It  will  take  capital  to  prove  all  this  without  remunera- 
tive returns  for  many  feet  down;  but  there  is  this  hope  to 
fall  back  upon,  when  the  returns  do  come,  they  will  be  in 
proportion  to  the  delay  and  risk  encountered  in  developing 
them. 

We  heard  much  of  better  things  lower  down  the  val- 
ley, but  it  was  impossible  to  see  them  this  trip. 

The  dividing  mountain  range  between  Conundrum 
gulch  and  Castle  Creek  on  this  slope,  carries  such  strong, 
rich  veins  as  the  Tam  O'Shanter  and  Montezuma  mines, 
now  being  worked  from  the  Ashcroft  or  Castle  Creek  side. 

The  day  of  our  arrival  we  Avere  treated  to  quite  a  snow 
storm,  but  it  had  all  disappeared  when  we  started  next 
morning  at  7  a.  m.,  to  arrive  in  Elko  in  time  for  dinner. 

I  cannot  be  quite  certain  about  the  mineral  formations 
at  the  head  of  Copper  Creek,  but  it  appeared  that  all  of  the 
mineral  veins  occurred  in  the  contact  rocks,  between  or 
near  to  the  cretaceous  formations  and  granite,  while  the 
upper  part  of  the  basin  showed  almost  wholly  granite,  and 
apparently  not  fissured  at  all,  thereby  giving  no  opportunity 
for  the  formation  of  ore  veins,  awa}-  from  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  the  lines  of  contact. 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  QQ 

While  at  I'^lko,  I  paid  particular  attention  to  Bellevuc 
mountain,  partly,  I  must  confess,  because  an  expert  had  passed 
his  opinion  on  it  eight  years  before,  and  stated  that  it  was 
barren,  not  worth  working  upon,  and  it  had  to  a  great  ex- 
tent been  left  alone.  I  wanted  to  find  out  how  my  obser- 
\-ations  would  agree  with  those  of  another. 

This  is  what  I  found,  and  I  do  not  fear  to  place  my.self 
on  record  regarding  it.  That  there  is  a  combination  of 
rocks  in  this  mountian,  well  and  strongly  fissured,  which 
on  development  will  gi\'e  the  rich  ores  of  Washington  gulch 
and  the  Irwin  district. 

I  think  that  is  a  plain  enough  statement  to  be  under- 
stood, and  if  I  am  deceived  it  will  be  the  first  time  that 
rock  combinations  have  misled  me;  again  it  may  be  time 
for  some  of  the  conceit  to  be  taken  out  of  me,  and  here  is 
where  it  may  be  done.  I  can  and  am  willing  to  learn  yet, 
but  constant  work  for  ten  years  in  practical  field  geology 
may  have  a  tendency  to  make  one  overestimate  their  actual 
knowledge.  If  so,  I  am  as  anxious  as  any  one  to  find  out 
when  and  where  I  am  wrong;  but,  in  the  meantime,  I  will 
-Stand  by  my  statement  of  Bellevue  mountain. 

Some  gentlemen  from  the  east  arriving,  who  were  di- 
rectly interested  in  Gunnison  County  by  monied  invest- 
ments, I  was  invited  to  accompanv'  them  on  a  trip  to  the 
lower  Rock  Creek  country. 

W'e  started  the  morning  ofSeptembei'  i6th,  five  of  us, 
the  State  of  Missouri  represented  by  an  overwhelming  ma- 
jority. 

It  had  rained  heavil)-  the  night  before,  so  that  the 
roads  and  trails  were  not  in  the  most  pleasant  condition. 
So  much  did  the  resident  member  of  the  party  resent  this, 
that  an  occasional  derogatory  remark  could  be  heard  com- 
ing under  his  breath,  and  not  at  all  complimentary  to  tiie 
weather  managers;  but,  what  could  not  be  cured  we  found 


lOO  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

could  be  endured,  and  we  certainly  got  through  all  right, 
and  I,  for  one,  heartily  enjoyed  the  trip. 

We  stopped  a  few  minutes  at  Schofield,  one  of  the  fron- 
tier towns  and  probably  the  oldest  in  this  section,  where 
nothing  ante-dates  three  years. 

Here  was  as  far  at  the  wagon  road  went  at  present, 
although  graders  were  at  work  on  down  Rock  Creek  canon, 
opening  a  wagon  road  through  a  most  difficult  section  to 
the  lower  country. 

It  is  the  road  making  this  summer  that  will  help  Gun- 
nison County  in  the  immediate  future,  as  by  the  time  snow 
comes  again,  every  available  and  proved  mining  district 
will  have  good  wagon  roads  connecting  it  with  the  railroad 
shipping  points. 

To  capitalists  seeking  investment,  this  is  a  good  point, 
as  it  gives  the  opportunity  to  economically  market  the  ore 
produced,  and  places  this  country  in  that  respect  ahead  of 
some  of  the  districts  where  mining  has  been  carried  on  for 
the  last  twenty-three  years. 

The  first  and  best  developed  claim  that  we  saw  is  the 
Lulu  on  Mineral  Point  slope  just  up  from  the  last  named 
town. 

There  was  about  seventy-five  tons  of  ore  on  the 
dump,  out  of  a  crevice  claimed  to  be  twelve  feet  wide  with 
pay  ore  streaks  on  each  wall  averaging  two  feet  each.  The 
ore  consisted  of  iron,  copper  and  zinc  sulphides  with  a 
stated  shipping  value  of  $120  to  ^$170  per  ton.  Shaft  at  the 
time  of  my  visit  about  sixty  feet  deep. 

Next  along  the  trail  came  the  Whopper  lode,  which 
had  a  ten  year  history,  possibly  the  pioneer  location  of  the 
district.  There  was  100  tons  of  ore  on  the  dump  out  of  a 
ten-foot  crevice.  The  gangue  was  silica  carrying  zinc  sul- 
phides with  an  accompaniment  of  iron,  galena  and  copper, 
stated  to  have  an  average  value  of  twenty-one  ounces  silver 
per  ton,  evidently  an  ore  that  would  pay  to  concentrate. 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  lOI 

Soon  after  this  the  trail  (?)  led  down  hill  into  the  val- 
ley of  North  Rock  Creek,  part  of  it  was  excellent,  the  rest, 
— well  it  was  a  comfort  to  know  that  there  was  a  wagon 
road  being  opened  around  the  other  way — near  the  valley 
we  switched  off  to  see  the  New  York  mine,  having  quartz 
and  calc-spar  gangue,  with  a  three-foot  pay  streak,  the  ore 
here  was  the  same  as  the  Whopper,  only  the  zinc  sulphides 
predominated,  if  there  is  anything  to  be  reaWzed  by  com- 
parative looks,  these  zincs  ought  to  carry  well  in  silver,  as 
it  almost  duplicated  the  Hawkeye  mine  of  Slate  River,  but 
then  the  geological  formation  is  different,  and  as  that  gov- 
erns the  ores,  appearances  do  not  count. 

At  the  foot  of  the  trail  is  the  town  of  Snow  Mass,  we 
dined  here,  that  is  we  picnicked,  we  had  a  good  lunch  with 
us,  the  storekeeper  sold  us  good  sardines,  and  the  water  of 
North  Rock  Creek,  I  am  ready  to  affirm,  is  the  best  drink 
in  the  world. 

From  Snow  Mass  the  trail  winds  up  Meadow  Moun- 
tain, branches  off  to  Sheep  Mountain,  one  of  the  well  adver- 
tised districts  of  this  section. 

The  first  claim  seen  on  Sheep  Mountain  was  the  Irene 
lode,  developed  by  a  sixty-foot  shaft  and  thirty  foot  level, 
a  perpendicular  vein  claimed  to  be  opened  eleven  feet  wide 
and  only  one  wall  found.  It  has  two  feet  of  well  mineral- 
ized quartz  gangue,  and  more  or  less  ore  disseminated 
through  the  whole  material  showing  in  the  ore  house  and 
on  the  dump,  there  being  about  seventy-five  tons  of  con- 
centrating ore  on  hand,  the  mineral  was  the  usual  four  sul- 
phides, copper  being  the  least  in  quantity.  The  iron  py- 
rites are  in  some  instances  a  mineralized  curiosity  as  upon 
breaking  some  of  the  cubes,  I  found  them  enclosing  parti- 
cles of  another  sulphide,  possibly  molybdenite. 

After  the  above  we  visited  the  Sifter,  the  Forest  King, 
the  Grand  Republic,  all  showing  more  or  less  similarity 
according  to  development,  to  those  already  described,  the 


I02  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

latter  claim  showing  some  manganese  in  addition  to  the 
sulphides  named. 

The  Bonanza  lode  had  a  change  in  the  gangue  of  the 
crevice,  weich  caused  me  to  think,  comparatively,  more 
favorabl}'  of  its  future  possibilities,  than  of  some  of  the 
others. 

We  rounded  up  at  James'  cabin,  had  a  splendid  venison 
supper  and  slept  in  the  best  built  log  cabin  I  ever  saw. 
Very  much  money  has  been  laid  out  here  in  some  surface 
improvements  on  some  properties ;  but  there  was  an  appar- 
ent hitch  in  the  programme  somewhefe,  and  the  ground 
has  not  as  yet  been  shown  up  to  produce,  what  the  surface 
improvements  would  seem  to  warrant. 

According  to  the  almanac  the  next  day  was  Sunday, 
(in  this  country  that  is  the  principal  means  of  knowing 
when  Sunday  comes),  and  having  a  fine  morning  we  con- 
tinued our  tour  of  investigation,  visiting  such  claims  as  the 
Mammoth,  the  Cleopatra,  the  Gothic  Belle,  the  Home- 
stake  the  City  of  Detroit  and  the  Milwaukee,  this  last  is 
the  only  one  seen  producing  ore  that  can  be  shipped  at 
once,  as  mill  returns  give  293  ounces  silver  per  ton,  and 
tests  have  been  run  up  to  1,700  ounces  per  ton. 

A  few  other  prospects  were  visited  but  did  not  show 
any  material  difference  from  most  of  those  named. 

Having  decided  to  go  still  lower,  we  went  over  the 
north  side  of  Sheep  Mountain,  taking  a  short  cut  until  we 
reached  a  trail  leading  down  to  the  valley  below.  From 
here  we  rode  on  until  within  sight  of  the  lake  on  lower 
Rock  Creek,  just  below  Hat  Mountain.  It  rained,  it 
snowed  and  the  sun  shone.  Here  I  could  see  where  the 
tertiary  rocks  again  came  in  place,  and  report  said  that 
below  here  was  still  larger  veins  of  coal  than  those  I  had 
already  seen  in  the  Crested  Butte  and  Ohio   Creek  basins. 

Owing  to  the  weather  and  perhaps  the  feeling  that  we 
had  seen  all  that  there  was  to  be  seen  at  present  of  interest. 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  IO3 

WO  determined  to  return  to  Elko  that  afternoon;  having  all 
varieties  of  weather  as  we  ascended  or  descended  the 
mountains  our  trail  led  over. 

Of  course  as  usual  I  was  loaded  with  rocks,  and  wet 
through,  so  much  so  that  for  comfort's  sake  I  walked  most 
of  the  way  back  leading  Fannie,  who  was  quiet  enough 
until  she  began  to  realize  the  possibilities  of  a  warm  barn 
and  oats  for  the  night.  Then  what  a  race  we  had  across 
the  flats  of  Rock  Creek  below  Elko  in  the  face  of  a  driving 
storm  of  sleet. 

The  highest  elevation  of  Sheep  Mountain  is  10,975,  it 
is  3,000  feet  down  to  Rock  Creek,  and  all  sedimentary 
rocks.  Now  the  granite  below  is  what  is  the  governing 
influence  upon  the  ore  bodies  of  all  this  country,  so  that 
here  is  possibly  an  exception  to  the  rule,  as  the  granite  is 
too  far  off  to  count  upon  an  increase  in  the  actual  value  of 
the  ores,  beyond  what  now  shows  in  the  sulphides  obtained 
at  or  near  the  surface  of  these  veins  of  vSheep  Mountain. 
They  are  fine  strong"  fissures  and  many  of  them,  and 
even  if  they  do  not  show  richer  ores,  until  very  great 
depths  are  reached  in  working,  it  is  jjossible  for  them  to 
increase  in  quantity,  and  so  bring  up  the  output  to  a 
23rofitable  return  for  working. 

I  had  spent  all  of  the  time  in  this  section  1  could 
spare,  and  having  shipped  over  400  pounds  of  the  rep- 
resentative rocks  and  ores  of  these  districts,  I  returned 
to  Crested  Butte  with  the  feeling  that  my  season's  work 
was  accomplished,  except  for  some  special  work  that  I  had 
engaged  to  do. 


104  GUNNISON,    THE    BONANZA    COUNTY. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


Crooke's  Station — Tomichi  Dome — Hot  Springs  Park 
— White  Pine — North  Star  Mine — Tomichi  Min- 
ing and  Concentrating  Company — Granite  Porphyry  Again 
— Trout    Fishing  and  a  Dinner — Cebolla  Iron  Mines — 
Colorado  Iron  and  Coal  Co. — Iron  Product  of  Col- 
orado—  Brush  Creek — Carboniferous  Rocks  and 
Fossils — Mt.  Teocalli — Brush  Creek  Mines 
— Alcyon  Mine — Pearl  Pass — Sulphate 
of  Baryta  Gangue — Tertiary  Coal 
Measures—Cement  Creek — Hot 
Springs — Bowman's—Head 
of  Taylor  River— Ital- 
ian Mt. — Crested 
Butte,    Its 
Future. 


My  next  trip  was  entirely  away  from  the  country  I 
had  been  spending  so  much  time  in;  and  the  afternoon  of 
September  19th  saw  two  of  us  getting  off  the  D.  &  R.  G. 
train  at  Crooke's  station,  twenty-three  miles  from  Gunni- 
son City. 

We  stopped  with  Mr.  C —  all  night,  this  gentleman 
and  family  were  amongst  the  early  settlers  of  the  county, 
and  to  judge  from  the  real  home  comforts  surrounding 
them,  and  amidst  which  they  were  living,  they  had  come 
with  their  minds  made  up  to  stay.  Although  but  of  a  fe\r 
hours'  duration  my  halt  there  was  a  delightful  change  from 
hotel  and  camp  life. 

The  next  morning  had  two  inches  of  snow  on  the 
ground,  and  the  atmosphere  still  lowering  and  misty.  By 
nine  o'clock  a.  m.  we  had  the  promise  of  a  clear  day  and 
started. 

Our  route  was  to  the  south  of  Tomichi  Dome,  across 
one  end  of  Hot  Springs  park,  a  delightful  summer  resort, 
and  which  will  become  one  of  the  noted  places  for  tourists 
in  the  near  future.     Up  and  over — by  good  wagon  road — 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  IO5 

a  divide,  on  down  to  the  Toniichi  valley,  arrivinp^  at  White 
Pine  in  time  to  dine. 

The  principal  mine  I  .saw  here  wa.s  the  North  Star, 
developed  115  feet  deep,  cro.s.s  cut.s  of  thirty-five  feet  and 
no  walls,  the  ore  is  galena  with  a  claimed  value  of  forty-five 
to  seventy  per  cent  lead,  and  about  twenty-eight  ounces 
of  silver.  Some  copper  stains  showed  in  places,  and  an 
abundance  of  iron  oxides.  The  gangue  is  lime  or  calc- 
spar,  with  ore  and  gangue  standing  in  alternate  bands. 

There  were  a  number  of  prospects  in  Galena  gulch, 
where  the  North  Star  is,  but  not  developed  to  a  point 
where  they  showed  any  pay  ore. 

For  supper  and  lodging  we  went  on  up  the  stream 
three  miles  to  Tomichi.  Here  the  Tomichi  Mining  and 
Concentrating  company  are  just  completing  a  large  mill, 
which  we  went  through.  If  an  opinion  ma}'  be  expressed, 
I  am  afraid  that  the  ores  which  we  saw  in  the  mill^  will  be 
found  quite  difficult  to  handle,  and  save  values,  by  the  ma- 
chinery that  is  being  placed. 

The  ores  we  saw  were  principally  oxides,  and  how  in 
the  name  of  a  suffering  public,  these  light  ores  are  to  be 
concentrated  by  any  wet  process,  I  am  very  curious  to  find 
out. 

There  must  be  many  opportunities  for  good  mines 
here,  we  were  shown  some  high  grade  ores,  and  a  char- 
acter of  country  that  should  yield  them  abundantly. 
Arsenical  iron  pyrites  carrying  $4,100  in  gold  and  silver  is 
high  grade  ore. 

I  saw  more,  viz  :  the  granite  porphyry  of  the  Slate 
River  country,  and  began  to  feel  that  instead  of  my  sea- 
son's work  being  done,  perhaps  it  had  only  commenced. 

As  I  rode  back  alone  to  Mr.  C — 's  I  had  time  to  think 
it  all  over,  making  up  my  mind  that  as  I  had  seen  two  ex- 
tremes of  a  section  of  a  country,  I   must  see  that  between 


I06  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.' 

those  points  if  it  was  possible,  and  so  fit  my  rock  sections 
together  from  one  extreme  to  the  other. 

The  Tomichi  was  a  good  stream  for  trout,  my  friends 
put  in  a  couple  of  hours  fishing  on  the  22nd  of  September, 
before  the  train  was  due.  Their  success  was  excellent,  for- 
tunate for  us  that  it  was  so,  the  train  being  seven  hours 
late,  but  no  telegraph  station  to  let  us  know  that;  what  a 
wear}'  wait  it  was,  and  how  vexatious  to  the  sportsmen, 
an  elegant  trout  stream  within  a  few  rods  of  the  track,  and 
the  train  expected  every  minutes  for  seven  long  hours. 

Hunger  brought  out  some  resources,  C —  and  I  could 
clean  fish  and  Mr.  L.  said  he  could  cook  them.  The  sec- 
tion house  was  invaded,  the  stock  of  ranch  butter  was  se- 
cured, as  well  as  the  use  of  a  stov^e  and  frying  pan. 

We  had  a  meal  fit  for  the  gods — it  was  worth  waiting 
seven  hours  to  learn  that  trout  could  be  cooked  so  that 
they  melted  in  one's  mouth,  and  tasted  good  hours  after 
they  were  eaten. 

In  a  few  days  a  part}'  was  made  up  to  go  from  Gun- 
nison City  to  visit  the  iron  ores  of  Cebolla,  two  carriage 
loads,  a  twenty-six  mile  drive  over  a  first-rate  road,  the  old 
Lake  City  stage  road.  The  route  was  through  the  granite 
countr}',  a  part  of  which  has  been  already  described,  when 
at  Gunnison   City,  eai'lier  in  the  season. 

The  Cebolla  iron  deposit  is  a  peculiar  formation  unto 
itself  1  was  asked  regarding  its  geology ;  I  had  to  weaken ; 
I  never  saw  anything  like  it,  or  read  of  anything  similar. 
There  is  iron  enough,  over  a  mile  square  of  it.  appar- 
ently overlaid  by  trachyte  at  one  time.  The  country 
rock  is  granite.  The  ore  is  heavy,  black  magnetite,  of 
fair  grade  of  iron,  but  carrying,  as  I  \\as  afterwards  in- 
formed by  one  of  the  representatives  of  the  Colorado 
Coal  and  Iron  Company,  too  much  titanium  to  be  prac- 
tically available  in  iron  manufacture. 

That  appears  to  be  the   great   drawback  of  Colorado 


(.iUNNlSON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  IO7 

iron  ores,  but  there  are  such  enormous  bodies  of  iron  in 
such  various  methods  of  occurrence  throughout  the  Cen- 
tennial State,  that  I  for  one  hope  in  time  to  see  Colorado 
furnishing  more  of  tliat  metal  than  either  of  the  states  of 
Pennsv'lvania  or  Missouri. 

The  Colorado  Coal  and  Iron  Company  have  proved 
this  for  Colorado  ores,  that  when  they  can  be  utilized  they 
beat  the  world. 

Railroad  men  say  the  Bessemer  steel  rails  turned  out 
of  the  works  at  Pueblo,  are  better  than  those  made  any- 
where else  in  the  United  States.  Foundry  men  say  that 
their  pig  iron  makes  castings  as  near  wrought  iron  for 
toughness  as  it  is  possible  for  castings  to  be;  and  builders 
show  the  nails  of  the  C.  C.  &  I.  Co.,  and  claim  they  are  as 
good  as  the  hot-pressed  nails  of  the  east.  In  four  months 
from  the  starting  of  the  nail  works  at  Pueblo  dealers  could 
not  sell  an  Eastern  nail  in  the  State. 

After  the  foregoing  trip  I  spent  a  couple  of  days  again 
going  over  the  coal  measures  of  Ohio  Creek  and  Crested 
Butte  basins,  in  compan}^  with  a  gentleman  from  Pittsburg, 
Penn.,  one  of  the  large  coke  manufacturers  there. 

A  few  days  afterwards  my  friends  started  east,  evi- 
dentl}-  well  pleased  with  what  they  had  seen  and  learned; 
leaving  me  to  do  what  I  was  aching  to  accomplish,  viz  :  ex- 
amination of  the  country  through,  from  Copper  Creek  to 
the  head  of  the  Tomichi. 

It  seemed  a  big  undertaking  to  do  right,  before  snow 
came,  but  I  had  this  to  help  me  out, past  experience  in  this 
countr\-,  had  given  me  many  points,  and  I  could  work 
more  rapidly  than  I  had  been  doing. 

The  first  trip  was  from  Crested  Butte  up  Brush  Creek, 
starting  on  the  29th  of  September.  I  had  the  use  of  a  fine, 
powerful  horse,  broken  to  trail  and  mountain  climbing  for 
two  years  before,  one  of  these  knowing  horses  who  would 
not  stand  tied,  but  drop  the  bridle   on   his  neck    loose,  and 


lOS  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

and  he  was  always  to  be  found  where  you  left  him.  He 
would  gallop  with  sacks  of  rocks  on  the  saddle,  and  seemed 
to  know  that  I  did  not  want  them  to  rub,  as  he  hardly 
shook  them;  and,  before  "Nig"  and  I  parted,  he  had  got 
so  far  along  in  my  business,  that,  as  far  as  he  could  see  a 
freshly  broken  pile  of  rocks,  he  made  for  them,  stopped 
for  me  to  get  off  and  examine  the  pile;  and,  if  I  did  not, 
he  turned  his  head  to  me,  an  apparent  look  of  inquiry  would 
be  in  his  eyes,  as  much  as  to  ask,  "Well!  what  is  the  mat- 
ter with  that  lot?" 

The  route  was  over  the  new  wagon  road,  made  up 
Brush  Creek. 

Shortly  after  leaving  East  River  on  this  road,  one 
soon  observes  a  remarkable  change  in  the  geological  for- 
mations, and  for  some  reason  which  I  could  not  determine 
at  the  time,  much  lower  rocks  in  the  geological  horizon 
appear.  I  found  one  strata  of  limestone  with  carboniferous 
fossils,  and  near  by  was  another  rock  which  had  every  ap- 
pearance of  being  useful  some  time  in  the  future  for  the 
manufacture  of  hydraulic  cement.  These  were  the  oldest 
sedimentary  rocks  that  I  was  certain  I  identified  in  the 
whole  of  the  Gunnison  country. 

As  the  road  ascends  in  its  course,  the  student  finds 
himself  climbing  through  a  geological  series,  as  it  were. 
The  first  of  the  cretaceous  is  a  red  sand  stone  conglom- 
erate, and  which  is  possibly  at  this  locality  the  equivalent 
of  the  Dakota  red  sand  stone,  or  number  one  of  the  eastern 
slope  series  of  the  cretaceous  rocks ;  afterwards  a  few  of 
the  older  metamorphic  rocks  are  found,  and  finally  you 
ride  out  amongst  the  primitive.  Of  course  a  series  of  up- 
heavals and  erosions  have  apparently  reversed  the  forma- 
tions. In  connection  with  the  oldest  rocks,  I  found  a  beau- 
tiful fine  grained  syenite. 

From  several  places  on  the  road  I  had  an  excellent 
vicM^  of  Mt.  Teocalli,  and  regretted   much  that   it   was   not 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  IO9 

directly  on  my  route,  as  from  where  1  saw  it,  the  structure 
appeared  to  be  strata  of  undisturbed  sedimentary  rocks, 
which  past  convulsions  of  nature,  had,  from  a  possible 
local  cause,  left  alone.  But  the  breaking  of  strata  all 
p.round,  with  the  aid  of  subsequent  erosion,  had  left  this 
fragment  of  vast  horizontal  beds  of  sedimentary  rocks  in 
the  form  of  an  elevated  mountain.  Apparently  there  all 
of  the  strata  were  from  the  latest,  except  the  tertiary,  on 
down  through  the  series  for  thousands  of  feet. 

This  Mt.  Teocalli  may  stand  relatively  to  the  rock  his- 
tory of  this  country,  as  the  stone  discovered  in  Egypt  did  to 
the  unknown  symbols  of  a  very  ancient  people  and  a  more 
modern  language,  and  which  enabled  the  student  to  unravel 
the  history  of  ancient  and  unknown  races  of  mankind. 

So  may  you  Mt.  Teocalli,  carved  by  nature  be  the  key 
to  all  of  the  foregoing  history  of  your  small  part  of  earth 
structure;  I  would  have  liked  to  have  made  your  personal 
acquaintance  anyhow,  but  I  had  to  do  without  that  this 
time. 

Clear  across  the  country  to  the  great  Uncompahgre 
range  one  can  have  an  almost  unobstructed  view,  and 
amongst  the  highest  of  its  peaks,  there  is  apparently  the 
duplicate  of  Mt.  Teocalli ;  what  you  both  have  to  say  I 
will  know  sometime,  I  promise  myself  that  much. 

The  mineral  section  commences  again  at  the  head  ot 
Brush  Creek,  veins  outcropping  in  cretaceous  rocks,  flat 
ones  following  the  dip  of  the  strata. 

Here  I  found  Capt.  McCarty  and  party,  and  accepted 
the  miners  hearty  invitation  to  stay  all  night  and  make 
myself  at  home.  The  latch  string  always  hangs  out 
among  these  men ;  and  nowhere  on  earth  does  one  feel  he 
is  more  heartily  welcome,  than  among  the  mining  men  of 
Colorado,  it  is  in  the  air  they  breathe. 

The  next  forenoon  I  used  in  visiting  the  Alcyon  claim, 
elevation  nearly    13,000   feet,  and   which,  while  it   had  not 


I  lO  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTV. 

much  development,  showed  a  strong  crevice,  in  one  place 
ten  feet  of  croppings.  Very  high  assajs  are  claimed  for 
this  property,  the  extremes  being  thirty-five  ounces  to  14,000 
ounces  silver  per  ton.  I  also  saw  the  Kansas  City  claim, 
this  occasionally  yields  small  lumps  of  horn  silver  in  the 
surface  workings.  There  were  other  holes  to  be  seen,  but 
I  wanted  to  see  the  formation  to  the  top  of  Pearl  Pass. 
After  dinner  I  started  up  the  road,  recently  finished  as  an 
outlet  from  the  Castle  Creek,  and  Ashcroft  sections ;  as  I 
neared  the  top  the  appearance  of  the  possibility  of  a  min- 
eral district  became  much  stronger,  and  although  the  ele- 
vation is  so  great,  the  road  being  nearly  13,000  feet  above 
sea  level.  I  saw  some  evidences  that  promise  good  things, 
and  believe  work  will  find  them. 

From  the  Pass  late  in  the  afternoon  I  could  look  over 
a  vast  extent  of  new  and  to  me  unknown  countr)',  but  of 
which  I  had  heard  much,  and  which  I  must  lea\e  until  an- 
other season's  work. 

However  the  causes  for  veins  and  ore  bodies,  on  the 
Ashcroft  side  of  Pearl  Pass  divide,  were  in  their  da}'  and 
generation  very  much  more  actively  at  work  than  on  the 
Brush  Creek  side.  This  I  know  from  the  visible  results; 
being  belated  I  rode  on  down  to  Ashcroft  to  stop  all  night, 
then  obtaining  an  early  start  next  morning,  I  took  time  to 
ride  around  somewhat,  and  found  more  and  larger  outcrops 
of  certain  kinds  of  ores  than  I  was  accustomed  to  seeing. 

Some  of  the  veins  showed  sulphate  of  baryta  (heavy 
spar)  in  the  croppings.  While  it  is  not  proved  what  this 
may  indicate  in  this  part  of  Colorado,  this  spar  frequently 
occurs  with  rich  silver  ores  in  Custer,  Park,  Clear  Creek, 
Gilpin  and  Boulder  Counties.  In  Clear  Creek  County  the 
miners  from  experience  call  it  "mother  of  silver,",  and  will 
go  down  on  it,  even  if  it  does  not  show  in  startmg  an 
ounce  of  silver  per  ton;  and  have  in\ariably  run  into  rich 
silver  ores  in  paying  quantities. 


GUNNISON,  THK  BONANZA  COUNTY.  F  I  I 

Now  the  foregoing;  must  not  be  taken  as  a  j^eneral 
i-ule  applicable  in  all  cases,  by  any  means,  as  it  mioht  be 
entirely  different  in  this  Pearl  Pass  countr)-.  I  advance 
the  statement  that  the  workers  of  these  claims  may  ha\'e 
an  additional  knowledge  for  practical  observation  in  their 
individual  localit}'. 

Sunday  evening  found  me  back  to  ni)-  quarters  in  the 
Elk  Mountain  house. 

A  short  trip  was  made  to  satisfy  m)'self  regarding  the 
practical  result  of  a  theory,  I  had  adx'anced  in  connection 
with  the  Tertiary  coal-measures,  and  finding  the  proofs  of 
my  theory  I  felt  satisfied,  it  will  be  noted  elsewhere,  when  I 
come  to  sum  up  the  geology  and  practical  values  of  these 
coal-measures. 

Eight  miles  down  the  valley  from  Crested  Hutte  Ce- 
ment Creek  empties  into  East  River. 

One  fine  morning  in  October  found  "Nig"  and  I  out 
on  an  exploring  expedition  up  this  creek.  I  could  not 
learn  much  about  it  previous  to  a  personal  visit,  although 
in  an  earlier  day  I  was  told  that  a  trail  went  through  here 
on  across  Taylor  Park  and  over  the  range  to  Leadville; 
but  since  the  building  of  railroads  into  Cunnison  County, 
this  route  had  fallen  into  disuse,  and  as  near  as  I  could 
learn  from  those  whom  I  questioned,  it  is  at  present  more 
or  less  of  a  terra  incognita. 

Haifa  mile  up  the  creek,  out  of  the  East  River  valley, 
there  is  a  large  spring  from  which  a  foot  of  tepid  water  is 
constantly  flowing,  the  largest  spring  I  saw  in  the  county. 
It  is  heavily  charged  with  carbonate  of  lime,  and  has  made 
a  thick  deposit  of  travertine  along  the  bank  of  the  creek. 
This  .spring  is  quite  a  place  of  resort  in  the  summer  .season 
by  the  Crested  Butters  for  bathing,  and  might  be  made  an 
enjoyable  summer  resort,  perhaps  will  be  in  time. 

This  travertine  has  been  utilized  to  some  extent  by 
burning    into    lime,  but   of  what   quality    I   do   not   know. 


112  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

Appearances  are  certainly  against  the  commercial  product^ 
as  the  kilns  and  surroundings  are  now  wholly  deserted  and 
idle. 

About  three  miles  up,  the  creek  comes  through  a  nar- 
row gorge  with  nearly  300  feet  of  fall,  an  opportunity  for 
considerable  water-power  when  the  day  comes  for   its  use. 

The  trail  turns  to  the  left  and  winds  up  another  and 
more  accessible  gulch,  crosses  a  small  open  park,  then 
down  to  the  most  lovely  valley  of  Cement  Creek. 

From  here  for  twelve  miles  the  ascent  is  quite  gradual 
on  the  south  side  of  the  stream,  the  north  side  where  the 
trail  goes  being  broken  by  abrupt,  outstanding  ledges  of 
the  cretaceous  rocks;  notably  the  red  sandstone  conglom- 
erate seen  up  Brush  Creek.  About  two  miles  from  the 
head  of  the  stream,  is  a  very  strong  .spring  of  sulphur  water 
in  the  bed  of  the  creek. 

Up  here  on  the  south  bank  is  Italian  Mountain,  one  of 
the  landmarks  of  the  United  States  geological  survey  un- 
der Prof  Hayden.  Seeing  that  the  dividing  ridge  at  the 
head  of  Cement  Creek  was  low,  I  rode  on  up  to  its  crest. 
There  are  abundant  evidences  of  minerals  here,  but  no 
work  of  any  account  done,  some  prospectors  had  com- 
menced, as  I  found  their  stakes  with  a  date  not  sixty  days 
before  my  visit,  but  they  had  all  left  for  the  winter. 

Seeing  some  cabins  and  evidences  of  work  in  the  other 
valley  from  the  one  I  had  traversed,  my  horse  and  I  slowly 
wended  our  way  down  a  trail  to  them.  VVe  found  evi- 
dences of  recent  occupation,  but  the  inhabitants  were  not 
there,  and  I  had  to  conclude  that  with  the  birds  they  had 
migrated  until  spring. 

I  was  in  somewhat  of  a  quandary,  as  I  did  not  feel 
certain  of  the  correctness  of  my  geographical  position.  It 
was  palpably  evident  that  I  was  there,  but  where  was  I^ 
and  how  far  was  it  to  the  nearest  supper  and  lodging  ?  It 
was   a  conundrum   that   I   had  to  give  up,  but  soon  found 


GUNNISON,   THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  II3 

"Nig,"  thought  he  could  solve  it,  so  giving  him  his  head, 
off  he  started  down  stream  of  an  unknown  country. 

The  trail  was  marshy,  it  was  getting  very  dark,  and  at 
times  I  could  feel  my  horse  under  me  making  mighty 
efforts  to  keep  from  being  mired. 

A  couple  of  hours  brought  us  within  sight  of  lights, 
and  a  little  after  seven  p.  m.  I  was  dismounting  at  the  toll- 
gate,  on  the  road  between  Ashcroft  and  Buena  Vista,  in 
Taylor  Park,  locality  Bowman's.  Here  was  accommoda- 
tion for  man  and  beast,  and  we  were  glad  to  find  it.  A 
good  supper  a  large  open  hearth  fire  to  sit  by  and  I  was 
soon  recovering  from  the  effects  of  a  really  hard  day's 
work.  I  learned  we  had  come  down  one  of  the  branches 
of  Taylor  River  for  six  miles,  and  my  geography  was  soon 
cleared  up. 

At  seven  a.  m.  of  October  4,  1882,  we  were  on  the 
road  returning  over  the  route  of  the  night  before.  I  was 
bound  to  climb  Italian  Mountain  if  it  were  a  possible 
thing;  it  proved  to  be  quite  a  climb  too,  up  a  steep  slope 
of  uptilted  cretaceous  rocks,  more  or  less  fissured,  and 
showing  some  evidences  of  mineral,  but  not  enough  to  pay 
as  yet  has  been  opened ;  a  few  holes  had  been  scratched  in 
various  places,  but  not  a  soul  appeared  to  be  around,  whom 
I  could  question,  some  recently  dated  stakes  showed  that 
prospectors  had  been  there  within  sixty  days,  trying  their 
luck,  they  were  all  gone  however  at  the  time  of  my  visit. 

The  view  from  the  top  of  Italian  Mountain  is  bounded 
by  mountain  ranges  in  every  direction,  but  what  thousands 
of  square  miles  lie  within  this  boundary.  One  could  over- 
look the  whole  of  Taylor  Park,  all  of  the  valleys  of  the 
streams  centering  at  Gunnison  City,  and  beyond  to  the 
boundaries  of  the  San  Juan  and  Uncompahgre  Countries; 
sweeping  round  to  the  -eastern  borders  of  Utah,  thence 
onward  connected  by  ranges  and  mourttain  peaks  to  the 
grand  old  Continental  Divide  nearest  to  me. 


1 14  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  . 

I  could  not  help  but  think  that  if  the  whole  of  this 
circumscribed  area  was  proportionately  as  rich  in  natural 
products  as  the  small  part  I  had  so  carefully  seen,  why 
here  in  time  could  be  produced  wealth  equal  to  the  present 
known  wealth  of  the  whole  world ;  and  withal  it  is  a  coun- 
try beautiful  to  live  in,  and  progressive  enough  to  have  a 
feeling  of  pride  ringing  in  the  words  of  the  man  who  will 
say  "here  I  live." 

I  was  pretty  well  loaded  with  specimens  when  I  came 
down  the  slope.  I  had  learned  a  trick  on  the  North  Fork 
of  Anthracite  Creek,  so  selecting  a*  wide  rift  filled  with 
small  stones,  etc.,  I  went  down  in  less  than  fifteen  minutes 
a  mountain  that  had  taken  three  hours  to  climb. 

"Nig"  had  not  been  idle  while  I  was  absent,  for  get- 
ting one  of  my  sacks  opened  he  had  made  away  with  ten 
pounds  of  oats  and  looked  more  than  contented  with  him- 
self He  carried  the  outfit  into  the  Buttes  in  time  for 
supper. 

Having  thus  finished  all  of  the  territory  that  was  most 
convenient  to  Crested  Butte  as  headquarters,  I  packed  up 
and  shipped  to  Denver  a  large  amount  of  ore  illustrations 
of  the  country  which  I  had  seen  so  far,  and  made  ready  to 
move  on  to  Jack's  Cabin. 

Before  leaving  Crested  Butte  it  ought  not  to  be  out 
of  place  to  say  something  regarding  its  future,  which  prin- 
cipally lies  in  its  possibility  of  making  a  second  Connells- 
ville.  Here  it  is  that  such  excellent  coking  coals  are 
known,  and  through  the  Colorado  Coal  and  Iron  Company 
are  being  utilized.  Heretofore  cokes  has  been  manufac- 
tured from  the  slack,  or  fine  product  of  the  mines,  by  being 
burned  in  open  pits,  a  wasteful  method.  Having  proved  in 
this  way  the  possibilities  of  the  property,  this  company  is 
now  building  fifty  coke  ovens  which  ought  to  be  in  full 
operation  by  the  spring  of  1883,  if  not  before.  The  railroad 
is  being   continued  up  the  Slate   River  to  the  Smith  coal- 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  II5 

banks,  where  it  is  contemplated  laying  out  extensive  plants 
of  breakers,  etc.,  for  active  and  large  mine  working  during 
another  season. 

These  operations  will  give  employment  to  large  num- 
bers of  men,  and  be  the  pioneers  perhaps  of  other  and 
larger  industries  in  the  near  future.  It  already  appears  to 
be  object  enough  for  the  South  Park  Railroad  to  find  a  way 
to  get  there,  and  share  the  freight  of  the  natural  output  of 
this  basin. 

The  town  is  situated  in  a  lovely  part  of  the  Slate  River 
valley,*  and  plenty,  of  interesting  places  for  sight-seeing  near 
by,  as  well  as  many  things  yet  to  be  secured  and  developed 
by  the  capitalist. 

Withal  it  is  blessed  with  a  good  and  well  managed 
hotel,  the  Elk  Mountain  House. 


Il6  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Good-Bye  to  Crested  Butte— The  Doctor  Mine— The 

Northern    Lava   Mesa — From    Howville    into 

Gunnison  City--Geological  Changes--Ohio 

City — Mistakes  of  Mining  Men  in 

Regard    to   Smelters — Moving 

Onward  to  Pitkin. 


On  the  afternoon  of  October  6,  1882,  I  bade  good-bye 
to  Crested  Butte  for  the  season,  and  rode  on  down  to 
Jack's  Cabin.  At  the  foot  of,  and  to  the  north  of  Round 
Mountain,  Cement  Creek  joins  East  River;  here  I  saw  a 
dump  and  leaving  "Nig,"  I  climbed  up  to  examine  it.  I 
found  a  foot  of  iron  stained  material  in  a  forty-toot  tunnel, 
evidently  of  no  commercial  value. 

As  I  returned  to  my  horse  he  had  taken  a  notion  that 
it  would  be  a  fine  thing  to  roll  with  all  my  traps  on  his 
back.  I  began  to  scold,  when  I  got  within  ten  feet  of  him 
he  deliberately  trotted  off  That  horse  made  me  wade 
Cement  Creek  once  and  East  River  three  times,  before  I 
headed  him  off  at  Wallace's  Camp  near  the  foot  of  Crested 
Butte  Mountain.  He  knew  he  had  done  wrong,  and  car- 
ried me  to  Jack's  Cabin  in  little  over  an  hour;  then  without 
supper  he  had  leisure  to  study  upon  the  error  of  his  ways, 
with  a  probable  conclusion  not  to  do  so  any  more;  as  that 
was  the  first  and  last  trick  "Nig"  ever  played  on  me. 

The  East  River  valley  widens  considerably  south  ot 
Round  Mountain,  and  here  are  the  houses  of  Howville,  or 
Jack's  Cabin,  occupied  at  the  time  of  my  visit  by  Ben 
Sherwood,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Gunnison  County.  At 
his  house  I  was  entertained  for  five  days,  occupying  the 
time  in  examining  the  surrounding  country.  The  princi- 
pal place  of  interest  that   I   saw   was   the   head  of  Spring 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  11/ 

Creek  and  the  "Doctor"  mine.  At  this  time  to  get  there 
we  crossed  the  low  dividq  between  East  and  Taylor  Rivers, 
passing  a  profitable  potato  ranch  in  the  Taylor  River  val- 
ley, then  on  up  stream  past  the  mouth  of  Spring  Creek, 
hence  by  trail  up  a  side  gulch  to  its  head,  then  over  a  di- 
vide to  the  "Doctor"  mine  or  head  of  Spring  Creek. 

On  this  property  I  found  a  tunnel  run  in  150  feet  on 
ore  lying  nearly  flat,  and  development  of  over  thirty-five 
feet  in  width  each  side.  The  ore  body  ranges  four  to 
ten  feet  thick,  and  is  much  liked  by  smelters  on  account  of 
easy  treatment  and  high  per  cent,  of  lead.  This  ore  is 
spoken  of  as  carbonates  ;  but  the  most  of  it  is  rather  a  sul- 
phate than  a  carbonate,  as  I  found  a  great  deal  of  angle- 
site,  (sulphate  of  lead)  among  it.  The  gross  value  is  about 
;$44  per  ton,  ^10  net  is  paid  by  the  Hillerton  smelter  for 
this  ore  on  the  dump,  the  owners  of  whic4i  pack  it  by 
burros  to  Taylor  River  road  and  from  there  haul  by  wagons 
through  Union  Park  to  the  smelter,  where  it  is  used  as  the 
lead,  or  bullion  base  for  the  reduction  of  the  higher  grade 
ores  of  Tin  Cup.  This  mine  at  the  time  of  my  visit  had 
about  ;^ 1 60,000  gross  in  sight  with  the  small  amount  of 
development  named ;  the  ore  is  very  easily  and  cheaply 
worked.  The  ore-body  has  a  slight  dip  east,  with  the  hill- 
side, and  as  it  is  followed  in  that  direction  I  think  it  will 
turn  downwards  much  more  rapidly,  and  with  depth 
change  from  the  present  form  of  ore  composition  to  galena, 
with  possibly  a  higher  value  in  silver. 

Next  to  the  "Doctor"  claim  is  the  King  lode,  from 
which  in  an  open  cut  not  over  twelve  feet  deep.  I  saw 
masses  of  galena  taken  out  as  large  as  could  be  lifted  into 
a  wheel-barrow. 

The  country  rocks  are  cretaceous  and  with  the  granite 
will  make  contact  walls  for  ore  bodies. 

Up  Spring  Creek  itself,  a  large  force  of  men  were  at 
work  opening  a  county  road  to   its   head.     Through  here 


Il8  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

an  easy  grade  down  hill  will  be  opened  from  this  mining 
district,  connecting  within  eighteen  miles,  with  the  D.  & 
R.  G.  Railroad  at  Taylor  station,  thus  making  the  outlet 
and  possible  cash  market  for  this  district  at  Gunnison  City. 

There  does  not  seem  to  have  been  as  yet  the  amount 
of  prospecting  in  this  Spring  Creek  district  that  the  present 
showing  and  rock  formations  seems  to  warrant;  but  that 
will  rapidly  follow,  as  soon  as  transportation  (another  sea- 
son) is  opened,  and  there  is  a  strong  probability  of  many 
more  ore  bodies  being  found  as  good  as  those  already 
named. 

I  spent  one  day  climbing  and  examining  the  northern 
lava  mesa  on  the  divide  between  Ohio  Creek  and  East 
River,  to  find  that  the  two  mesas  were  originally  one,  and 
that  subsequent  erosion  had  cut  them  in  two.  The  lava  was 
about  fifty  f^et  thick,  flat,  table  like  on  the  top,  covered 
with  a  growth  of  pines,  not  much  deadwood  or  fallen  tim- 
ber, a  little  over  a  mile  square,  and  from  each  edge  a  mag- 
nificent view  of  the  surrounding  country. 

I  started  up  an  elk  family  while  I  was  there,  consisting 
of  a  buck,  doe  and  fawn,  also  saw  plenty  of  wood-grouse. 

The  lava  flowed  over,  and  is  subsequent  to  the  tertiary 
formation.  It  was  this  volcanic  eruption  that  fissured  the 
tertiary  rocks,  so  that  the  ruby  silver  veins  of  Irwin  could 
occur,  and  makes  them  the  most  recent  of  any  in  geolog- 
ical age. 

I  came  down  on  the  west  slope  of  the  mesa  examining 
the  tertiary  rocks  exposed,  and  on  through  the  eroded 
basin  to  East  River.  I  hoped  to  find  evidences  of  coal 
seams,  and  that  the  heat  and  pressure  of  the  overlying 
eruptive  rock  would  have  changed  such  coals  to  an  anthra- 
cite. I  did  not  find  any  coal  float  whatever,  only  masses 
of  lava  which  show  continuously  from  the  mesa  every- 
where down  the  slope,  the  same  as  on  the  Ohio  Creek  side. 

While  at  this  place  I  climbed  Round  Mountain,  find- 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  1 19 

ing  it  a  combination  of  uptilted  sedimentary  rocks,  with 
trachyte,  eruptive  granite  and  granite-porphyry,  represent- 
ing perhaps  three  different  ages  of  eruptive  rocks  in  the  one 
mountain. 

This  locality  is  referred  to  again  in  the  summing  up  of 
the  season's  work,  so  that  it  is  sufficient  to  say  now  that  I 
was  somewhat  disappointed  in  what  I  expected  to  find; 
those  expectations  were  wholly  based  upon  the  representa- 
tions of  others,  and  that  evidently  without  sufficient  knowl- 
edge of  what  they  were  attempting  to  describe. 

From  Howville  I  meant  to  ride  up  into  Union  Park, 
where  extensive  gold  placers  are  worked  each  year.  I  had 
been  quite  curious  to  get  into  this  park  all  of  the  summer, 
that  I  might  learn,  if  possible,  the  source  of  and  the  method 
of  occurrence  of  this  placer  gold.  The  day  I  had  set  upon 
for  going  snowed,  and  I  was  most  forcibly  reminded  that 
Gunnison  was  a  very  large  county,  and  I  had  places  to  go  yet 
that  I  must  have  bare  ground  for  examinations,  and  that 
what  I  could  not  see  well  now  I  had  better  leave  for  an- 
other year. 

So  on  the  morning  of  October  nth  instead  of  Union 
Park,  saw  "Nig"  and  I  headed  for  Gunnison  City  in  a  snow- 
storm that  had  been  threatening  to  catch  us  for  the  last  two 
days. 

We  followed  the  toll-road  down  the  East  River  to  its 
junction  with  Taylor  River,  at  this  place  is  where  Gunnison 
River  commences. 

We  appeared  also  to  be  descending  the  geological 
scale,  as  soon  no  more  tertiary  rocks  were  to  be  seen,  then 
passed  out  from  us  the  cretaceous,  the  last  of  the  sedimen- 
tary rocks  being  a  sandstone  and  which  I  would  place 
amongst  those  of  a  carboniferous  age,  this  was  broken 
through   in  places  by  red  eruptive,  feldspathic  granite. 

Then  we  finally  rode  out  into  the  flat  gravel  deposit 
upon  which  Gunnison  City  is  built. 


120  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  ■ 

A  rest  here  of  one  day  to  recuperate,  which  meant  in 
my  case  catch  up  on  correspondence,  purchase  a  few  neces- 
saries of  clothing,  etc.,  and  then  I  was  off  for  what  is  locally 
known  as  the  gold  belt  near  to  Ohio  City  about  twenty 
miles  from  the  City  of  Gunnison. 

A  ride  of  twelve  miles  up  the  Tomichi  River  to  Par- 
lin's  in  time  for  dinner,  here  Quartz  Creek  joins  the  Tom- 
ichi. This  twelve  miles  is  over  an  excellent  road,  with  the 
hay  ranches  along  the  stream  bottoms,  the  roadside  bordered 
with  a  strange  character  of  conglomerate,  eroded  in  some 
instances  into  fantastical  shapes.  Upon  examination  of 
this  conglomerate  it  appears  that  the  cementing  material  is 
volcanic  ash.  In  a  former  chapter  I  have  mentioned  beds 
of  volcanic  ash  found  near  to  Gunnison  City. 

It  would  seem  as  if  at  one  time  in  past  ages  that  the 
present  site  of  Gunnison  City  was  the  bed  of  an  inland  lake 
or  sea,  into  which  the  drainage  of  the  surrounding  country 
centered,  and  not  so  very  many  ages  ago  either.  Near 
this  body,  perhaps  to  the  eastward  of  it,  there  was  an  active 
volcano,  which  in  its  period  of  life  gave  out  large  quanti- 
tities  of  ashes.  These  falling  into  the  lake,  were  mingled 
with  boulders  and  pebbles  brought  down  by  the  stream, 
thus  making  the  present  accumulation. 

I  must  confess  that  the  above  is  only  a  partial  theory, 
as  to  work  the  basin  out  in  detail,  and  be  able  to  make 
proper  deductions  from  facts  found,  one  must  carefully 
examine  the  outlet  (Dark  Canon)  through  which  this  body 
of  water  was  drained,  find  out  if  it  was  the  result  of 
long  and  continuous  erosion  or  the  result  of  a  volcanic 
eruption  producing  a  fissure,  afterwards  enlarged  by  ero- 
sion. The  point  or  locality  at  which  the  ejection  of  ashes 
occurred  must  also  be  found,  "the  fact  determined  whether 
it  was  of  the  same  age  as  the  lava  flows  found  near 
jack's  Cabin,   or   later    in    geological    history.     I  do  not 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  121 

think  from  the  present  condition  of  the  material  it  could 
have  been  earlier. 

To  read  this  basin  aright  one  must  determine  whether 
there  was  a  lava  flow  first  from  a  crater,  followed  by  ashes 
without  an  intermittent  period,  or  determine  whether  there 
was  only  one  outbreak  to  produce  the  seen  results,  and 
that  continuous  until  the  volcanic  force  was  spent.  It 
would,  on  the  small  examination  that  I  could  give  this  sec- 
tion, appear  to  be  one  continuous  pouring  forth  of  hot  ashes, 
this  deduction  is  made  from  the  present  appearing  result 
of  a  homogeneous  mass  of  ashes  on  what  might  have  been 
the  shore  line  of  the  body  of  water  and  a  similar  result  in 
the  water,  as  the  whole  mass  of  conglomerate  shows  the 
same  cementing  material. 

I  have  not  time  to  prove  all  of  that  now,  and  make  a 
note  of  it,  to  jog  my  memory  in  the  future,  of  something 
still  to  do  in  this  part  of  the  country. 

It  is  eight  miles  from  Parlin's  to  Ohio  City,  up  the 
Quartz  Creek  valley.  Through  here  the  Denver  &  South 
Park  Railroad  has  found  a  way  to  the  City  of  Gunnison, 
and  is  now  bidding  for  its  share  of  business  with  the  Den- 
ver &  Rio  Grande  company.  If  I  have  read  the  country's 
"title  clear,"  there  is,  in  the  near  future,  business  enough 
for  both. 

As  one  enters  what  is  a  new  geological  field  a  sharp 
lookout  is  kept  for  changes  in  the  formations.  Here  we 
start  with  a  showing  of  carboniferous  sandstones,  these 
give  way  as  we  ascend  Quartz  Creek,  then  the  red  granite 
shows  in  small  patches,  as  well  as  occasional  spots  of  the 
older  metamorphic  rocks,  mica,  shists,  etc.,  but  about  five 
miles  up  the  stream  from  Parlin's,  all  changes  to  primitive 
granite.  In  this  last  noted  change,  one  sees  the  possible 
approach  to  a  mineral  section,  by  the  frequent  appearance 
of  strong  veins  of  white  quartz  in  the  granite.  A  turn  in 
the  road  soon  brines  us  within  sight  of  the  railroad  station 


122  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

and  collected  houses  and  cabins   designated   as   Ohio  City. 

I  found  a  hotel  kept  here  by  a  genuine  Michigan  ten- 
derfoot, slightly  adulterated  with  a  year  of  residence  in 
Kansas,  simple  and  honest,  but  withal  rather  inclined  to 
imagine  that  the  investment  in  mining  properties  did  not 
require  so  very  much  judgment  as  it  would  require  to  buy 
a  mule.  This  gentleman  died  of  pneumonia  shortly 
after  I  had  left  his  house,  I  am  sorry  to  say. 

The  mining  section  about  Ohio  City  is  but  three 
years  old,  the  same  as  all  of  the  rest  of  the  country  I  had 
seen  so  far.  The  lesser  Ohio  Creek  joins  Quartz  Creek 
here,  and  is  some  nine  miles  to  its  head,  cutting  through 
primitive  granite,  birds-eye  porphyry  and  the  older  meta- 
morphic  rocks,  such  as  mica  and  garnet  schists,  gneiss,  etc. 

Through  these  rocks  break  very  many  gold  bearing 
veins,  showing  free  gold  ores  from  the  surface  to  a  small 
depth,  then  changing  to  arsenical  iron  pyrites  carrying 
gold. 

This  section  is  a  duplicate  of  Gilpin  County,  Colorado, 
on  a  smaller  scale. 

The  usual  mistake  has  been  made  here  to  start  with, 
that  appears  to  be  a  necessity  of  all  mining  camps,  new  as 
well  as  old;  mills  were  put  up  before  the  properties  were 
sufficiently  developed,-  to  prove  what  the  permanent  ores 
were  to  be.  These  mills  were  for  saving  free  gold  by  amal- 
gamation, but  as  soon  as  any  depth  was  gained,  or  develop- 
ment reached  a  point  where  the  ores  changed  from  oxides 
to  sulphides,  the  mills  would  not,  and  could  not,  save  the 
value.  Consequence  as  usual  the  district  condemned,  where 
it  is  not  the  fault  of  the  mines,  but  of  the  men  controlling 
them.  If  mining  men  will  only  learn  that  it  is  necessary 
to  fully  prove  their  properties  before  building  mills,  very 
much  of  these  loses  will  be  saved;  but  it  almost  makes  me 
despair  when  I  go  into  mining  camp  after  mining  camp. 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  I  23 

and  see  that  they  all  go  through  the  same  courses  of  loss 
without  variation. 

A  mining  man  has  no  right  to  believe  that  any  process 
will  treat  his  ores  until  it  is  proved,  and  it  cannot  be  proved 
until  his  mine  is  developed. 

There  are  now,  and  more  will  be  found,  very  many 
good  prospects  in  this  district,  but  the  kind  of  mills  needed 
are  stamp  mills,  with  improved  concentrating  machinery 
to  get  the  sulphides  in  the  ores  into  a  condition  that  will 
pay  to  ship  to  smelters.  That  is  the  only  kind  of  mill  that 
it  is  safe  for  a  mine  owner  or  mining  camp  to  touch  at  all ;" 
as  where  hand  sorted  shipping  ore  can  be  produced,  there 
is  always  a  much  larger  quantity  that  can  be  made  available 
by  concentration ;  and  the  recent  improvements  in  concen- 
trating machinery  are  such  as  to  make  ;^iO  rock  pay  ore  if 
it  exists  in  quantity  enough,  and  there  is  sufficient  gangue 
or  waste  to  be  got  rid  of,  to  let  seven  tons  of  natural  pro- 
duct make  one  ton  of  concentrates. 

I  keep  urging  the  above  so  strongly,  and  always  at 
every  opportunity,  because  I  am  personally  interested. 
That  is,  the  success  of  my  business  is  based  upon  success- 
ful mining  in  Colorado,  and  I  know  what  it  means  to  see 
camps  using  proper  concentrating  machinery,  rather  than 
sinking  money  in  any  contrivances,  which  are  only  good 
on  paper,  and  not  much  use  there. 

Past  the  head  of  Ohio  Creek  the  contact  formation  also 
goes  through  towards  the  direction  of  Pitkin,  which  now 
has  the  reputation  of  being  the  liveliest  camp  in  Gunnison 
County. 

Considerable  prospecting  has  been  done  along  this 
contact,  but  no  pay  found  as  yet. 

At  the  head  of  the  North  Fork  of  Ohio  Creek  is  a 
very  peculiar  schist,  and  an  immense  dike  of  birdseye  por- 
phyry crossing  in  the  direction  of  Chicago  Park  near 
Pitkin.     At  the  time  of  my  visit  the  Midnight  claim  was 


124  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  ■ 

down  with  a  shaft  175  feet,  and  other  similar  claims  were 
opened  more  or  less,  most  of  them  much  less,  among  which 
might  be  named  the  Dollar  Store  lode,  Dodson  Extension, 
Idaho  Girl,  Lead  Chief,  Goldsmith,  and  very  many  others, 
which  are  as  yet  mere  prospects,  but  all  mines  must  be 
prospects  first. 

Some  very  high  grade  gold  ores  have  been  found  in 
this  neighborhood,  as  well  as  some  showings  of  copper 
pyrites  and  galena. 

On  the  whole  I  am  favorably  inclined  to  the  vicinity  of 
Ohio  City,  and  think  that  development  will  prove  very 
much  more  in  value  than  now  shows,  but  work  must  be 
done  to  prove  this,  and  a  claim  is  only  worth  what  it  shows 
itself,  without  any  reference  to  what  occurs  near  by. 

I  spent  five  days  riding  around  this  section,  and  having 
given  it  all  of  the  time  I  dared  to,  not  as  much  as  \  would 
like,  I  moved  onwards  to  Pitkin. 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  125 


CHAPTER  XV. 


Prettily  Situated  Town— The    "Silent    Friend" 

Some  Very  Promising  Properties — A   Superior 

Railroad  Outlet — The    "  Porcupine  "  Group 

— The  Mineral  Farm,  a    Geological 

Puzzle— The    Silver  Islet 

and  Fairview 

Mines. 


The  town  of  Pitkin  is  prettily  situated  on  Quartz 
Creek,  about  seven  miles  above  Ohio  City;  an  easy  wagon 
grade  existed  and  the  South  Park  Railroad  finds  no  trouble 
in  building  from  here  to  Gunnison. 

Pitkin  must  have  between  two  and  three  thousand  in- 
habitants, and  during  the  year  1882,  attracted  more  atten- 
tion than  any  other  camp  in  Gunnison  County. 

The  rock  formation  for  most  of  the  way  from  my  last 
stopping  place  was  metamorphic,  which  changes  to  granite 
and  cretaceous  rocks  just  before  one  rides  into  the  open 
flat  upon  which  the  town  is  built.  These  rocks  are  in  what 
is  the  mineral  belt  of  Pitkin,  and  in  many  instances  give 
the  opportunity  for  contact  veins,  very  large,  strong  and 
well  mineralized.  Of  these  at  present  the  finest  and  best 
developed  is  the  Silent  Friend  mine,  about  four  miles  from 
Pitkin.  This  mine  at  the  time  of  my  visit  had  acquired  a 
wide-spread  reputation  for  the  size  and  value  of  its  devel- 
oped ore  body.  The  shaft  was  seventy-five  feet  deep, 
with  five  feet  of  solid  argentiferous  galena  in  the  bottom. 
In  the  ore  house  was  150  tons  of  the  same,  that  I  esti- 
mated had  not  500  pounds  of  waste  in  the  whole  lot.  The 
value  claimed  was  about  $80  per  ton  in  silver  and  lead. 
Occasionally  very  nice  specimens  of  grey  copper  are  found 
that   will   assay   into   the  hundreds   of  dollars   in   a  silver 


I  26  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.. 

value.  At  this  time  they  were  placing  a  hoisting  engine 
on  the  mine,  and  would  soon  be  in  shape  to  work  double 
the  force  of  men  and  treble  the  output. 

The  South  Park  Railroad  comes  up  this  North  Fork 
of  Quartz  Creek,  making  a  "U"  as  it  climbs  out  of  the  val- 
ley, here  a  shipping  station  has  been  put  in,  apd  makes  a 
great  convenience  to  the  present  and  future  mines  of  North 
Fork. 

I  did  much  riding  about  here  and  visited  some  very 
promising  properties,  showing  large  bodies  of  ore  in  pro- 
portion to  development.  Among  which  might  be  men- 
tioned the  Silver  Islet  and  Fairview,  and  later  the  "Way 
Up"  mine,  is  acquiring  a  good  deal  of  prominence. 

Having  to  visit  Pitkin  in  February,  1883,  I  found 
nearly  100  men  employed  here  in  mid-winter  with  three  to 
four  feet  of  snow  on  the  ground.  It  is  a  God-send  to  Col- 
orado to  be  able  to  find  out  that  work  here  can  be  carried 
on  all  winter;  instead  of  miners  and  mine  owners  spending 
this  season  in  Denver  and  other  cities  they  have  found  out 
in  the  winter  of  i882-'83  that  their  time  can  be  more  profit- 
ably employed  at  home. 

A  good  wagon  road  leads  from  Pitkin  to  the  head  of 
Ohio  Creek,  the  gold  belt,  and  makes  as  good  an  outlet 
here  as  down  to  Ohio  City.  Another  road  has  been  made 
up  the  North  Fork  of  Quartz  Creek  crossing  the  divide  of 
Taylor  Park  and  giving  Tin  Cup  a  better  railroad  outlet 
than  she  was  blessed  with  before. 

On  this  divide  and  near  to  Mt.  Sigel,  is  the  Porcupine 
group  of  mines,  embracing  4,500  feet  on  one  vein,  and 
which  shows  a  continuous  outcrop  of  mineral  for  the  whole 
distance  named.  This  company  has  a  fine  property  and 
appears  to  be  doing  this  work  right.  On  the  principal 
vein  a  cross-cut  of  seventeen  feet  was  run  towards  the 
hanging  wall,  but  not  to  it,  all  mineral.  The  owners  claim 
an  average   of  ^50  per  ton    in  gold,  silver  and  copper;  of 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  12/ 

which  one-half  ought  to  be  free  milling  ore  and  can  be 
mined,  milled  and  reduced  to  bullion  at  a  cost  of  ^5  per 
ton,  with  the  sulphides  concentrated  and  shipped  as  a 
smelting  ore.  Judging  from  the  size  of  this  vein,  its  char- 
acter of  ores  in  connection  with  the  country  rocks  in  which 
it  occurs,  this  ore  ought  not  to  change  much  in  composi- 
tion for  nearly  200  feet  in  depth.  It  evidently  can  be  made 
a  very  large  producing  property  in  the  near  future. 

Chicago  Park,  two  miles  from  Pitkin,  has  numerous 
prospect  holes  through  it;  they  appear  to  have  been  sunk 
down  to  a  coal  seam  of  the  cretaceous  age  and  then  aban- 
doned. This  is  the  first  coal  of  this  age  which  I  had  seen 
on  this  slope,  although  from  the  immense  mineralising 
action  of  this  neighborhood  the  coal  was  entirely  worth- 
less, being  strongly  impregnated  with  iron  and  sulphur.  I 
was  pleased  to  know  ofits  occurrence,  as  it  helped  me  very 
materially  to  identify  geological  horizons. 

While  I  cannot  mention  all  of  the  prospects  and  indi- 
cations which  I  saw  in  this  neighborhood,  I  was  particularly 
struck  with  the  properties  known  as  the  Mineral  Farm. 

It  was  claimed  that  this  had  been  a  geological  puzzle 
to  all  who  had  seen  it;  perhaps  it  was,  and  I  may  be  over- 
confident regarding  my  own  judgment  of  undeveloped 
properties;  but  I  said  then,  and  feel  now,  that  it  is  one  of 
the  bonanzas  of  the  Pitkin  district. 

The  trouble  appeared  to  be  that  there  was  so  much 
rich  float,  that  they  did  not  know  where  to  look  for  the  ore 
body  in  place.  It  appeared  to  me  to  be  a  simple  matter  to 
demonstrate,  and  I  am  sure  it  can  be  found  and  at  no  ex- 
traordinary expense  either.  They  find  float  and  plenty  of 
it  carrying  50  to  700  ounces  of  silver,  and  quite  frequently 
native  silver  occurs. 

I  had  a  pleasant  stop  of  several  days  at  Pitkin,  made 
many  acquaintances  I  would  like  to  meet  again,  and  saw 
some  things  and  heard  of  more,  that  I  will  not  rest  con- 


128  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  . 

tented  until  the  time   comes  for  me  to  know  more  of  them; 
which  I  hope  may  be  the  coming  year. 

The  Denver  &  South  Park  Railroad  is  doing  for  this 
section  what  the  Denver  &  Rio  Grande  is  accomplishing 
for  the  mining  districts  which  it  passes  through.  There  is 
one  trouble  with  both  of  them,  apparently,  which  I  do  not 
understand,  and  I  may  be  wrongly  informed  too,  and  that 
is  the  attempt  to  force  products  the  whole  length  of  their 
line  to  Denver  and  Pueblo.  These  two  roads  both  meet  at 
Gunnison  City,  which  is  the  natural  and  commercial  centre 
of  all  this  country  I  have  been  traveling  over.  Now  it 
seems  to  me  that  if  these  two  roads  would  combine  to  give 
Gunnison  what  naturally  belongs  to  her,  they  would,  from 
increased  population,  requiring  the  bringing  in  of  enormous 
supplies  for  their  subsistence,  as  well  as  the  out-freight  of 
bullion  and  manufactured  products,  have  in  a  very  short 
time  much  larger  freight  earnings,  than  it  will  be  possible 
to  get  on  mere  transportation  of  the  ore  product  over  the 
Continental  Divide. 

But  railroad  men  are  business  men,  and  more  fre- 
quently farther  seeing  than  those  whose  experience  is 
locally  circumscribed,  and  to  the  managers  of  these  roads 
there  may  be  good  and  sufficient  reasons  for  discriminating 
against  a  large  commercial  city  at  the  point  named,  all  I 
can  record  is  what  seems  good  to  me. 

We  had  a  couple  of  spurts  of  snow  but  the  warm  sun 
had  cut  it  off  within  twenty-four  hours  after  falling,  with 
the  exception  of  spots  on  the  north  side  of  the  mountains, 
the  country  was  still  bare  enough  for  me  to  continue  my 
work. 

Following  the  old  stage  road  some  nine  miles  up  the 
Middle  Fork  of  Quartz  Creek.  I  think  it  is  (where  the 
south  branch  is  I  did  not  see)  one  comes  to  Woodstock, 
the  first  station  on  the  South  Park  Railroad  west  of  Alpine 
tunnel.    The  country  rock  this  distance  is  almost  wholly  prim- 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  129 

itive  granite,  and  not  much  evidences  of  mineral  that  I  could 
discern  riding  along  the  road,  until  one  comes  nearly  iti 
sight  of  the  water  tank,  below  here  is  the  Silver  Bell  with 
ninety  feet  of  development,  which  the  owners  represent  as 
giving  $1$  per  ton  silver  with  a  trace  of  gold  on  the  sur- 
face; while  the  cross-cut  below  gives  iron  pyrites  running 
from  $200  to  ^400  per  ton  in  gold.  This  is  an  evidence  of 
what  will  be  found,  from  here  on  over  the  divide  to  the 
headwaters  of  the  Tomichi,  from  the  fact  that  hereabouts 
I  saw  many  strong  and  promising  veins,  some  apparently 
developed  properties ;  but  of  what  kind  of  ores,  of  what 
quantity  and  quality,  I  could  not  tarry  to  learn,  as  I  was 
more  than  anxious  to  reach  Tomichi  that  night,  and  I  had 
five  miles  to  make  from  Woodstock  to  that  town. 

Before  passing  entirely  away  from  Pitkin,  I  should  say 
that  the  Silver  Islet  people  are  building  a  mill  for  the  treat- 
ment of  their  own  ores,  putting  up  machinery  and  furnaces 
to  carry  out  the  Carter-Bancroft  idea  of  amalgamation.  I 
fear  it  will  be  another  failure,  as  the  principal  is  not  right 
for  silver  ores  to  save  their  full  value.  The  mill  was  not 
completed  while  I  was  there  on  my  first  visit,  so  that  I 
could  not  judge  entirely  of  its  possibilities,  and  what  might 
seem  to  be  good  in  theory,  viz:  the  roastingfurnaces  might 
fail  in  practical  use. 

I  have  said  so  much  already  about  chlorodizing  and 
amalgamating  silver  ores,  in  referring  to  the  Pioneer  mill 
at  Irwin  that  it  might  almost  seem  a  worn  out  part  of  the 
story.  But  as  near  as  I  can  learn,  this  Carter-Bancroft  pro- 
cess is  the  old  Lightning  amalgamation  process  under  a 
new  title.  Under  the  old  cognomen  it  cost  New  York  par- 
ties, on  property  near  Lake  City,  ^80,000  without  any  ade- 
quate returns;  under  the  last  name  it  has  reappeared  at 
Empire  in  Clear  Creek  County,  to  treat  low  grade  gold 
ores,  and  the  only  real  work  there  that  has  been  published 
and  attested  to  was  over  the  signatures  of  Prof.  J.  Alden 


130  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

Smith  and  Mr.  E.  E.  Burlingame,  of  Denver,  who  watched 
the  treating  of  about  ten  tons  at  a  cost  of  about  ;^4.50  per 
ton,  on  ore  that  was  only  worth  ;^3.50  per  ton  before  it  was 
treated;  I  never  could  figure  out  anything  so  very  practical 
and  good  in  that.  Finally  it  turns  up  at  Pitkin  as  a  chlo- 
rodizing  mill  for  silver  ores,  if  this  practically  fails,  as  I  fear 
it  will,  I  do  hope  enough  will  have  been  paid  on  this  pro- 
cess for  experience  by  mining  men  in  this  State.  On  the 
other  side  I  must  be  just,  and  add  that  the  gentleman  in 
charge  of  this  property  and  mill,  assures  me  that  he  has 
thoroughly  tested  the  process  and  that  it  is  most  certainly 
a  triumphant  success.  Should  it  prove  to  be  so,  no  one 
will  more  cordially  welcome  and  make  known  such  facts 
than  myself,  as  it  will  be  the  first  silver  amalgamating  mill 
to  be  a  success  in  the  State  of  Colorado;  and  I  should  be 
only  too  glad  to  do  my  part  in  making  a  success  that 
means  so  much  to  all  mining  districts,  known  everywhere. 
A  new  wagon  road  was  opened  this  fall  from  Wood- 
stock to  Tomichi ;  after  one  crosses  the  divide  by  this  road, 
the  evidences  of  strong  v^eins  with  possible  ore-bodies, 
become  more  and  more  apparent.  What  they  really  were, 
or  appeared  to  be  to  me  as  I  examined  them  more  closely, 
I  will  leave  for  another  chapter. 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  I3I 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


First  Knowledge  of  Tomichi — Fissure  Veins  of  Gold 
and  Silver — Causes  Against  Its  Development — 
On  the  Edge  of  the  World — Convinced  of 
Negligent  Prospecting — A    Recall — 
Between    Two    Fires — A  Ten 
Mile  Walk,  then  Salida— 
The  End  of  a    Narra- 
tion of  an  End- 
less Work. 


Tomichi  was  first  known  to  the  outside  world  a  little 
over  three  years  ago;  then  Tomichi  and  White  Pine  stood 
prominent  as  two  of  the  new  camps,  of  which  great  things 
were  expected  at  once,  but  of  which  great  things  did  not 
come.  Not  from  any  fault  of  the  country  I  now  find,  but 
rather  from  the  fault  of  the  men  occupying  this  section. 
They  have  a  country  with  naturally  boundless  wealth,  but 
having  the  great  drawback  of  individual  inertness  pertain- 
ing to  the  inhabitants.  The  reason  Tomichi  did  not  come 
up  to  first  expectations  at  once  is  to  be  found  in  the  now 
realized  fact,  that  work  was  not  and  is  not  being  done  on 
the  scale  and  basis  which  the  section  really  warrants. 

For  five  miles  down  the  stream  on  the  north  side,  the 
granite  is  laid  bare,  and  fissured  on  an  average  nearly  every 
500  feet,  with  good  gold  and  silver  veins,  containing  those 
metals  in  a  native  state  sometimes,  veins  two  to  seven  feet 
wide  with  very  high  grades  of  ore.  The  iron  pyrites  here, 
like  those  of  almost  all  rich  sections  are  high  grade,  I  saw  a 
picked  specimen  of  arsenical  iron  that  would  assay  ^4,100 
of  gold  and  silver  per  ton,  from  a  dump  I  obtained  a  num- 
ber of  specimens  of  wire  silver,  and  still  these  mines  are 
not  worked,  or  were  not  at  the  time  of  my  visit. 

Among  the   claims  that   mio-ht   be    named   which   I 


132  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

visited  personally,  and  all  of  which  showed  sufficient  en- 
couragement for  more  and  greater  development,  are  the  Lilly, 
Rights  of  Man,  Alwilda,  Twin  Lakes  lode.  Little  Laura, 
Hiawatha,  Tucker,  Gypsy,  Grand  View,  Niagara,  Lewiston, 
Sleeping  Pet,  Lehigh  and  Carrie  tunnel. 

These  are  all  in  the  granite  and  were  they  anywhere 
else  than  at  Tomichi,  they  would  be  worked.  The  owners 
claim  that  they  have  not  means  to  develop  them,  but 
should  one  want  to  buy  he  is  asked  ten  prices  for  them. 
This  must  be  changed,  to  make  the  camp  a  success,  my 
advice  is  sell  part  of  your  holding  for  what  you  can  get  in 
cash,  take  that  money  and  develop  the  rest  to  something 
that  will  sell  at  the  larger  prices;  the  day  has  gone  by 
when  ^10,000  will  be  paid  for  ten  and  twenty  foot  holes; 
and  just  as  long  as  you  do  not  see,  that  there  is  no  end  of 
new  mining  property  added  to  the  market  each  year,  just 
that  amount  of  time  is  lost  irrevocably  to  you  men  of 
Tomichi,  and  in  time,  a  very  short  time  too,  you  will  freeze 
yourselves  out.  Buyers  will  not  pay  thousands  for  what 
they  can  get  elsewhere  for  hundreds  that  is  just  as  good. 

At  the  head  of  the  stream  is  Monumental  Mountain, 
composed  of  the  same  granite-porphyry  that  I  found  so 
much  of  at  the  other  end  of  the  country.  This  mountain 
makes  part  of  the  great  Continental  Divide,  rearing  a  crest 
heavenwards,  until  an  altitude  of  nearly  14,000  feet  is 
reached  above  sea  level.  Below  this,  arfd  running  nearly 
parallel  with  the  Tomichi  River,  commences  the  great 
contact  belt,  now  opened  more  or  less  to  Galena  gulch  at 
White  Pine,  a  distance  of  nearly  four  miles. 

This  belt  ought  to  yield  vast  quantities  of  mineral,  of  , 
medium  and  low  grade  ores.  There  is  opened  on  it  the 
New  York  Claim,  Pocahontas,  Red  Cloud,  and  Legal 
Tender  on  Clover  Mountain,  which  is  nearly  as  high  as 
Monumental  Mountain;  of  this  "Nig,"  and  I  went  to  the 
top,  one  might  almost  imagine  themselves  looking  over  the 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  1 33 

edge  of  the  world.  Thousands  of  feet  below  us  was  the 
valley  of  the  Arkansas,  stretching  out  for  miles  a  clear  and 
uninterrupted  view  far  down  the  stream  to  Salida.  In 
another  direction  we  could  look  far  across  country  to  the 
valley  of  the  Gunnison;  if  we  were  not  looking  over  edges 
of  the  world,  we  did  stand  upon  the  very  back-bone  of  the 
American  Continent. 

Although  not  a  Columbus  by  any  means,  in  a  small 
degree  I  realized  that  I  too,  might  at  such  times  and  places, 
have  all  the  feelings  of  the  moment,  when  the  great  dis- 
coverer first  set  eyes  upon  the  New  World. 

Below  Clover  Mountain,  and  opposite  to  the  town  of 
Tomichi,  an  entirely  different  formation  sets  in,  which  if  it 
does  contain  ore  bodies  will  be  found  to  have  very  different 
mineral  compositions  from  the  contact  veins.  After  this 
again  comes  the  cretaceous  rocks  and  granites  to  Galena 
gulch  and  beyond. 

The  most  promising  mines  are  the  North  Star,  men- 
tioned in  a  former  chapter,  the  Parole,  Iron  Duke,  and 
Carbonate  King.  This  last  was  opened  after  my  first  visit, 
galena  was  found  at  grass-roots,  giving  in  car  load  lots, 
thirty-five  ounces  silver,  and  fifty-five  per  cent  lead.  The 
first  six  feet  gave  a  car  load  of  ore,  ditto  the  next  three  feet, 
and  so  on,  large  masses  of  galena,  no  walls,  and  hole  about 
twelve  feet  deep  when  I  saw  it.  Since  then,  or  at  the  present 
writing,  it  is  reported  that  two  car  loads  per  day  are  being 
shipped. 

I  think  I  have  scolded  enough  about  Tomichi,  so  will 
leave  it  with  the  hope,  that  when  it  is  my  lot  to  revisit  it, 
that  the  claim  owners,  instead  of  waiting  for  some  one  to 
buy  undeveloped  prc^erties,  will  have  gone  to  work  and 
proved  in  fact  that  my  judgment  is  right  regarding  the  real 
wealth  of  their  own  bodies. 

Sargent's  is  the  shipping  point  on  the  Denver  &  Rio 
Grande  Railroad  for  this  country,  and  wishing  to  see  the 


I  34  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

grade,  I  rode  for  about  fourteen  miles,  down  a  good  road, 
very  even  grade,  down  hill,  to  that  place.  After  dinner, 
between  Sargent's  and  Parlin's,  I  was  caught  in  the  worst 
storm  of  sleet  I  ever  was  out  in,  it  came  up  so  sudden  along 
the  river  bottom  that  I  could  not  get  time  to  reach  shelter, 
and  was  drenched  through  in  a  moment  almost.  I  stopped 
all  night  at  Parlin's  and  rode  into  Gunnison  City  before 
breakfast,  the  morning  of  October  27,  1882. 

I  had  traveled  many  miles  since  I  had  left ;  seen  very 
mnch  that  is  good  now,  and  more  that  will  be  better  when 
developed.  Much  as  I  had  seen,  I  could  not  help  but  feel 
that  hard  as  I  had  worked,  I  could  not  begin  to  do  justice 
to  the  country,  without  coming  again  and  giving  it  more 
time. 

Having  a  few  days  to  spare  I  made  two  trips  through 
part  of  the  granite  belt  near  Gunnison  City.  I  did  not  find 
anything  new,  but  was  more  strongly  convinced  than  ever, 
that  this  section  has  not  been  properly  prospected. 

I  thought  I  had  got  through,  but  just  as  I  was  ready 
to  leave,  I  received  word,  that  just  beyond  Sargent's  were 
some  formations  which  I  needed  to  see  to  complete  my 
Summer's  work.  Not  wishing  to  leave  anything  undone 
that  I  could  possibly  accomplish  this  year,  I  took  the  train 
for  Sargents  on  November  6th.  On  my  arrival  there  I 
could  not  get  a  horse  at  all,  nor  could  I  learn  anything  of 
the  surroundings  from  the  people  of  the  town  apparently. 
I  got  rather  desperate,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  7th  I 
started  for  a  walk  up  Agate  Creek,  a  new  and  apparently 
undisturbed  part  of  the  country,  as  the  trail  was  almost  in- 
visible and  every  few  hundred  feet  was  fresh  beaver  dams. 
The  ascent  is  quite  gradual  and  how  many  miles  I  walked 
I  do  not  know;  but  sundown  found  me  on  top  of  the  Con- 
tinental Divide,  rapidly  feeling  chilled  as  the  elevation  was 
high  and  the  time  of  the  year  November.  I  had  come  most 
of  the  way  through  a  country  of  red  granite,  entirely  baren 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  I  35 

and  worthless,  with  not  a  sign  of  a  cabin  or  camp  anywhere. 
It  was  impossible  to  go  back,  and  not  the  most  cheerfuU 
prospect  to  camp  where  I  was.  It  took  about  two  minutes 
to  decide  that  I  coul9  not  be  worse  off  by  going  on,  so 
down  the  east  slope  of  the  range  I  went,  through  a  mile  of 
snow,  over  my  boot  tops.  To  my  delight,  in  the  bottom  of 
the  gulch,  I  found  a  wagon  road,  instead  of  going  down  the 
gulch  it  struck  me  I  might  find  shelter  the  quickest  by 
going  up,  as  it  could  not  be  far  to  its  head  and  the  end  of 
the  road,  the  evening  also  had  got  to  be  very  dark.  Less 
than  half  a  mile  brought  me  to  a  deserted  saw-mill  camp, 
with  a  fair  cabin,  a  chimney  and  plenty  of  firewood  lying 
around ;  a  few  minutes  more  and  I  had  a  roaring  fire  built 
in  the  fire-place,  with  myself  stretched  out  on  some  boxes 
in  front  of  it,  as  comfortable  and  contented  as  if  I  really 
knew  where  I  was,  which  I  did  not.  Pretty  well  tired  out 
with  the  days  tramp  I  was  soon  dozing,  and  then  suddenly 
awakened  to  the  fact,  that  the  cabin  had  another  tenant 
besides  myself;  the  biggest,  fattest,  and  sauciest  mountain 
rat  that  I  ever  beheld.  That  blessed  rat  had  an  insane  idea 
that  he  must  try  his  teeth  on  my  boots,  well,  he  just  kept  me 
up  all  night.  I  had  a  good  look  at  the  great  comet  of  1882 
between  four  and  five  o'clock  of  the  morning  of  November 
8th  anyhow,  then  as  it  was  light  enough  to  see  the  road 
plainly  I  started  down  it,  perfectly  confident  that  a  wagon 
road  in  this  country  would  lead  to — some  where — between 
its  ends,  and  as  I  was  starting  from  the  upper  and  worst  end 
I  was  satisfied  I  was  not  passing  or  leaving  any  place  of 
note  behind  me. 

A  ten-mile  walk  brought  me  to  Maysville  in  the  Ar- 
kansas valley,  where  I  learned  that  I  had  come  down  Poise's 
gulch.  I  went  to  bed  getting  up  in  time  to  take  the  train 
for  Sal  i  da. 

0.1  the  morning  of  the  9th  I  got  off  the  train  at  Mar- 
shall Pass,  with  my  mind  fully  made   up  to  see  what  kind 


136  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

of  rocks  the  railroad  cut  through  between  the  summit  of 
the  range  and  Sargent's. 

I  found  tertiary  and  cretaceous  rocks,  recent  lavas, 
obsidian,  porphyry  and  trachyte,  as  well  as  metamorphic 
rocks  and  granite.  I  found  some  indications  of  ore  and 
veins,  and  I  am  certain  I  found  the  longest  eighteen  miles 
in  Gunnison  County,  when  I  reached  Sargent's  in  the  after- 
noon with  forty  pounds  of  rocks  in  my  sacks. 

The  next  morning  I  returned  to  Gunnison  and  in  a 
few  days  more  to  Denver. 

Here  ends  the  narrative  of  five  months  geological 
work,  with  what  success  in  knowledge  gained  and  given  I 
leave  my  readers  to  judge,  I  merely  have  the  feeling  that  I 
have  tried. 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  I37 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


"Misled"   Capitalists — Soft  and  Hard  Coal  Found  in 

Gunnison — Definition    of   'Anthracite" — "What 

Is  It?"— A  Revelation— Beautiful  Building 

Stone — A  Little  Local  Reasoning — 

Five  Days'   Search  for  an 

Illusion — Data — Test 

From    Smith 

Bank. 


A     PENNSYLVANIA     EXPERT     DISCUSSES    THE     GUNNISON     COAL 

BEDS. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Times: 

Sir  : — My  attention  has  been  drawn  to  an  article 
headed  "Cretaceous  or  Carboniferous"  and  referring  to  the 
question  of  the  occurrence  of  anthracite  coal  in  Colorado, 
that  appeared  in  your  issue  of  Thursday  evening  last,  9th 
inst. 

The  article  alluded  to  gave  the  substance  of  a  conver- 
sation that  took  place  between  two  geologists,  and  a  capi- 
tolist  who  made  an  investment  in  lands  believed  to  contain 
anthracite  coal,  situated  some  twenty  miles  northwest  of 
Gunnison  City.  The  geologists  were  distinctly  represented 
as  agreeing  in  the  opinion  that  there  was  no  anthracite  in 
Colorado ;  the  hard  coal  of  the  Gunnison  country  not  being 
anthracite,  because  it  was  not  of  the  same  geological  age  as 
that  of  the  Pennsylvania. coal  measures;  while  the  capitalist 
was  spoken  of  as  having  been  "misled,"  rather  as  though 
he  had  made  a  serious,  if  not  costly  blunder. 

The  question  involved  is  one  that  will  sooner  or  later 
be  of  interest  to  the  people  of  Colorado  in  general,  and  there 
is  in  several  ways  enough  room  for  misapprehending  the 
force  of  statements,  such  as  those  cited,  to  render  the  truth 
or  its  further  elucidation  desirable.      Moreover,  if  the  details 


138  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY, 

pass  without  comment,  they  will  convey  a  wrong  impression 
and  may  possibly  work  injury  in  quarters  where  considerable 
interest  in  lands  of  like  character  are  held,  such,  for  instance,, 
as  Philadelphia,  and  I  understand,  Pittsburgh.  I,  therefore, 
beg  to  offer  some  particulars  touching  the  hard  coal  of  Col- 
orado, and  shall  be  glad  to  profit  by  the  experience  of  others 
if  any  be  incorrect. 

There  are  certainly  two  kinds  of  coal  found  in  Gunni- 
son region,  namely :  bituminous  or  soft  coal  and  the  hard 
coal,  commonly  called  anthracite.  A  statement  has  been 
published  to  the  effect  that  there  exists  a  large  deposit  of 
coal  specified  as  the  semi-bituminous.  Some  details  were 
given,  but  very  little  seems  to  be  known  about  it  and  no 
samples  are  obtainable  that  I  am  aware  of 

With  respect  to  the  first  of  the  two  sorts  undoubtedly 
existing,  no  one  has  apparently  thought  for  an  instant  of 
questioning  the  propriety  of  its  familiar  name.  It  is  called 
"bituminous  coal"  because  it  is  "bituminous" — or  contain- 
ing bitumen.  A  name  more  accurate  in  its  designation 
could  hardly  be  devised  or  applied ;  indeed  any  other,  even 
more  convenient  or  appropriate  could  not  now  come  into 
use.  Bituminous  coal  is  so  called  on  the  one  account  wher- 
ever found,  those  giving  and  using  that  name  are  little  likely 
to  confound  it  with  other  descriptions  of  coal,  and  seldom 
if  ever,  think  of  the  geological  epoch  during  which  it  was 
formed. 

As  regards  the  the  hard  coal  of  the  Gunnison  country, 
on  somewhat  similar  grounds,  I  demand  that  it  receive 
without  question  its  just  and  proper  title,  by  which  it  may 
always  be  known  and  distinguished,  namely,  anthracite. 

I  am  disposed  to  doubt  that  the  geologists,  already 
spoken  of,  meant  to  convey  the  idea  that,  because  the  coal 
was  not,  geologically,  of  the  same  age  as  the  anthracite  of 
Pennsylvania,  it  was  not  anthracite  at  all.  If  so  I  submit 
that  their  distinction  has  been  drawn  from  an  abstract  rather 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  I  39 

than  an  economic  or  practical  standpoint,  which  later,  I 
hold,  should  hav'e  been  the  one  to  determine  the  question, 
being  much  the  more  important  in  its  relations  thereto.  In 
this  connection  it  might  have  been  instructive  to  have 
touched  upon  the  geological  age  or  ages  of  the  hard  coals 
recognized  as  anthracites  that  exist,  though  to  a  limited  ex- 
tent outside  of  Pennsylvania;  notably,  in  Rhode  Island,  and 
in  several  countries  in  Europe:  Wales,  France,  Germany 
and  Russia.  The  name  anthracite,  indeed,  first  used  to 
designate  a  peculiar  form  of  mineral  coal  by  the  German 
mineralogist,  Karsten,  about  the  beginning  of  the  present 
century,  was  doubtless  originally  bestowed  upon  a  sample 
from  a  European  deposit.  It  was  given  as  a  mineralogical 
necessity  to  a  coal  that  has  been  characterized  by  Dana, 
substantially,  as  follows:  "A  hard,  compact  variety  of  min- 
eral coal  of  high  lustre,  consisting  largely  of  carbon,  con- 
taining but  little  bitumen,  and  remarkably  free  from  sul- 
phur." There  is  not,  however,  in  this  definition  the 
slightest  requirement  that  the  coal  must  belong  to  any  par- 
ticular geological  epoch. 

Without  presuming  in  any  way  to  dispute  the  assign- 
ment of  the  Gunnison  hard  coal  by  experienced  geologists 
to  any  age,  arrived  at  as  a  result  of  their  investigation,  it 
would  be  difificult  to  say  why  this  coal  should  not  be  called 
anthracite  if  it  present  the  distinctive  characteristics  com- 
prised in  the  definition  thereof  That  it  does  so  can  be 
readily  shown. 

It  is  anthracite  in  external  character.  Being  desirous 
as  a  Pennsylvanian  of  satisfying  myself  concerning  the  ques- 
tion of  Colorado  anthracite.  I,  last  September,  visited 
Crested  Butte,  in  the  Gunnison  region,  were  both  the  soft 
and  hard  coals  occur  in  close  proximity,  though  not  to- 
gether, so  far  as  explored;  the  soft  coal  out-cropping  along 
the  face  of  the  hill  that  forms  the  south  side  of  the  narrow 
gulch   of  Coal  Creek,  while  the  hard  coal  is   found  but  a 


HO  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

short  distance  beyond  the  mouth  of  the  gulch  to  the  north. 
In  company  with  two  Pennsylvania  coal  operators  of  many 
years'  experience,  I  examined  the  hard-coal  veins  at  the 
several  different  points  where  development  has  been  done. 
We  found  the  coal  hard,  dense,  compact  and  lustrous ;  not 
to  be  distinguished  from  Pennsylvania  coal.  The  question 
of  its  being  other  than  anthracite  coal  never  presented  itself 
and  was  never  raised.  The  extensive  acquaintance  of  the 
others  amongst  Pennsylvania  coals  led  to  their  concluding 
that  it  corresponded  nearest  in  physical  characteristics  to 
what  we  know  as  Buck  Mountain  coal.  All  the  coal  in  the 
veins  is  not  of  the  same  hardness,  some  portions  are  harder 
than  others,  but  the  difference  is  scarcely  greater  than  what 
might  exist  in  other  hard  coal  veins.  The  question  is  only 
relative,  and  one  cannot  justly  say  it  is  softer  than  Pennsyl- 
vania anthracite,  since  this,  as  is  well  known,  is  also  vari- 
able. It  would  not,  I  judge,  be  difficult  to  select  the  coun- 
terparts of  the  Colorado  coal  as  to  differing  degrees  of 
hardness  amongst  those  of  Pennsylvania. 

This  coal  is  anthracite  from  its  combustion.  It  shows 
the  usual  incandesence  with  retention  of  form.  Little  if 
any  flame  is  seen  after  thorough  ignition.  It  developes  an 
intense  heat,  "lasts"  a  long  time,  and  is  a  slow-burning,  red- 
ash  coal. 

It  is  anthracite  from  its  specific  gravity.  This  is  Penn- 
sylvania coals  varies  from  1.3  to  1.7,  giving  an  average  of 
1.5.  The  figures  I  have  determined  from  four  samples  of 
the  hard  coal  from  Crested  Butte  vary  from  1.4  to  1.5,  with 
an  average  of  i  .4. 

It  is  anthracite  from  its  composition.  The  rough  var- 
iations in  the  constituents  of  Pennsylvania  anthracites,  as 
determined  by  analyses  in  the  laboratory  of  the  State  Geo- 
logical Survey,  are  as  follows : 


GUNNISON,  THE  DONANZA  COUNTY.  I4I 

Water 2  to      4  per  cent. 

Violatile  matter 4  to      6  per  cent. 

Fixed  carbon 80  to    90  per  cent. 

Ash 4  to    10  per  cent. 

Sulphur 1.4  to  1.5  per  cent. 

1  subjoin  the  composition  of  a  hard  coal    from  Crested 

Butte : 

Water 0.73  per  cent. 

Volatile  matter 5.63  per  cent. 

Fixed  carbon 87.83  per  cent. 

Ash 5.81  percent. 

100.00 

The  deduction  as  to  the  value  of  the  above  may  easily 
be  drawn. 

I  understand  that  hard  coal  has  been  discovered  else- 
where in  the  Gunnison,  of  greater  thickness  than  at  Crested 
Butte,  and  it  is  claimed,  containing  ninety-two  per  cent,  of 
fixed  carbon.  Of  this  I  have  not  had  an  opportunity  of  ex- 
amining the  full  analysis. 

If,  now,  I  have  not  shown  the  Gunnison  hard  coal  to 
be  anthracite,  I  feel  like  asking,  after  the  manner  of  the 
capitalists  already  cited,  "What  is  it?" 

I  contend  that  it  is  anthracite,  but  whether  it  really  be 
so,  or  whether  the  capitalists  have  to  supply  it  with  a  new 
name  such  as  "anthracoid" — meaning  "like  anthracite," 
there  is  this  to  be  said  :  there  is  no  cause  for  discourage- 
ment on  this  score;  the  coal  is  excellent  and  when  it  is 
once  mined  and  marketed  at  a  fair  price  consumers  will  care 
but  little  whether  it  is  "cretaceous  or  carboniferous." 
Yours  respectfully, 

Charles  Henry  Baker, 

Mining  Engineer. 
Denver,  November  15,  1881. — Denver  Times. 

The  foregoing  appeared  in  the  Denver  Times,  and  after- 
wards in  the  Gunnison  News-Democrat. 

The  following  is  my  reading  of  these  coals,  and   may 


142  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

be  taken  as  a  reply  to  the  query  regarding  the  tertiary  coal 
measures  of  Gunnison  County  : 

Thinking  it  might  help  to  settle  the  question,  as  well 
as  give  some  additional  information  of  possible  practical 
value;  this  being  the  result  of  personal  observation  during 
a  close  examination  lasting  nearly  five  months,  spent  in 
and  around  these  coal  measures,  with  a  view  to  determine 
their  age,  structure,  and,  in  a  measure,  their  commercial 
value  as  seen  locally,  and  in  comparison  with  data  obtained 
from  other  sections. 

The  first  five  years  of  my  geological  work  being 
among  the  coal  measures  of  Missourj  and  Kansas,  I  have 
always  been  much  interested  in  what  had  been  brought  to 
me  in  the  way  of  specimens  from  the  Gunnison  country 
coals.  For  two  years  these  specimens  had  come,  the  par- 
ties having  the  same  claiming  the  product  to  be  anthracite. 
This  I  disputed,  as  no  one  could  inform  me  of  any  change 
in  the  connecting  rocks  that  showed  an  opportunity  for  a 
change  in  the  coal,  by  metamorphism,  from  a  bituminous 
coal  to  an  anthracite.  In  fact,  I  considered  (without  tests) 
that  the  appearance  of  the  specimens  were,  in  gravity,  frac- 
ture, and  luster,  against  such  a  result.  The  coals  appeared 
more  like  the  Albertites  of  Nova  Scotia,  or  a  coal  highly 
charged  with  bitumen.  On  the  other  hand,  the  chemists' 
analyses  shown  me,  gave  such  high  results  in  fixed  carbon 
that  it  must  be  rated  as  an  anthracite ;  and  if  the  latter,  the 
rocks  accompanying  the  coal-seam  must  show  a  corres- 
ponding change.  As  stated,  of  this  none  could  tell  me, 
and,  as  a  geologist,  I  must  confirm  what  the  chemist  had 
shown,  or  find  out  the  reason  why. 

The  geological  structure  of  this  coal  measure  forma- 
tion, as  seen  by  myself  in  the  Crested  Butte  and  Ohio 
Creek  basins,  was  a  revelation,  as  nothing  like  it  is  known 
or  described  in  any  works  that  I  have;  many  things  ap- 
peared to  be  reversed,  and  not  at  all  analogous   to   other 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  1 43 

known  localities  where  coals  occur.  So  great  was  this  dif- 
ference that  I  must  give  the  facts  as  seen  by  an  ordinary 
observer,  and  then  try  correctly  to  describe  the  geological 
structure,  adding  thereto  a  description  of  the  characteristics 
of  other  sections,  that  the  difference  may  be  realized. 

Take  the  first  opening  back  of  Crested  Butte  town,  and 
to  my  amazement  the  coal  lay  upon  shale,  with  a  solid 
sandstone  roof;  and  for  1,500  feet  thick,  as  these  measures 
appear  to  be,  the  rock  formation  is  shale,  coal  and  sand- 
stone; no  limestone  belongs  to  this  series,  and  nowhere 
does  any  animal  life  appear  to  have  existed  in  the  waters 
that  deposited  the  sediments  making  the  present  existing 
sandstones  and  shales.  All  other  coal  measures  known 
have  most  abundant  remains  of  shell-fish  in  the  limestones, 
sandstones,  and  shales  of  their  respective  ages. 

The  only  fossils  are  the  impressions  of  leaves  of  land 
plants  and  trees,  that  floated  out  to  sea,  sank,  and  left  a 
record  in  the  sands,  saying  here  was  a  tropical  climate,  as 
most  beautiful  palm-leave  impressions  are  obtained  in  one 
horizon,  as  well  as  many  other  leaves  grown  in  a  like  lat- 
itude or  climate,  whose  names  I  do  not  know. 

The  sandstone  itself  is  a  marvel,  in  places  many  feet 
thick,  and  repeated  just  the  same  many  times  in  different 
strata;  as,  in  looking  for  a  cause  that  would  account  for 
the  absence  of  life  in  these  waters,  I  found  the  sandstone 
was  not  the  detritus  from  the  wearing  away  of  other  rocks, 
but  was  a  precipitation  of  particles  of  quartz  from  a  hot  sea 
carrying  an  excess  of  silica  in  solution,  cemented  by  a  small 
amount  of  material  that  was  produced  from  dissolved  feld- 
spar; not  a  rounded  pebble  in  the  whole  series,  but  even- 
grained  and  homogeneous  throughout. 

I  examined  loo  square  miles  of  these  measures,  and  in 
the  midst  of  it  all  found  2,000  acres  of  anthracite  coal,  the 
finest  of  its  kind  known  on  the  continent,  a   four-foot  vein, 


144  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

giving  from  90  to  943^   per  cent,  of  fixed  carbon,  and  no 
iron  or  sulphur  in  an  appreciable  quantity. 

To  finish  with,  1,000  feet  of  conglomerate  had  a1:  one 
time  been  deposited  over  the  whole  of  this,  and  in  another 
locality  recent  lavas  were  found  overlying  these  tertiary 
sandstones. 

If  the  above,  which  can  be  seen  by  any  one,  was  not  a 
geological  problem,  I  have  never  met  one.  To  solve  it,  I 
had  to  find  the  rocks  of  the  next  oldest  age,  which  proved 
to  be  cretaceous,  large  shale  beds  of  this  age  existing 
partly  metamorphosed  to  a  slate,  and  containing  the 
characteristic  fossil — Inoceramiis — of  the  cretaceous  seas. 

The  closing  of  this  age  gave  me  the  key  to  very  much,^ 
as  locally  it  is  marked  by  one  of  the  most  stupendous  erup- 
tions of  volcanic  paste  that  ever  was  known,  covering  hun- 
dreds of  square  miles  on  a  cretaceous  sea-bottom,  not  only 
flowing  over  these  muds,  where  lived  the  In oceramus,  hut  slIso 
elevated  in  enormous  masses,  which  now  show  as  mountain 
ranges,  as  well  as  single  mountains  or  cones.  This  volcanic 
mass  is  now  geologically  identified  as  granite  porphyry,  its 
constituents  being  silica,  horn-blende,  feldspar,  a  small 
amount  of  mica,  and  occasionally  a  small  crystal  of  sani- 
dine.  The  feldspar  separated  into  beautiful  crystals,  with 
perfect  sides  and  terminations,  some  of  them  of  large  size, 
held  most  firmly  by  the  silica  which  makes  the  bulk  of  the 
paste.  So  much  harder  is  this  inclosing  paste  that  it  was 
difficult  to  get  good  specimens  of  the  crystals,  the  latter  de- 
composing more  readily,  and  leaving  perfect  casts  in  the 
rock. 

This  granite  porphyry  would  make  the  most  beautiful 
building  stone,  as  it  is  more  easily  quarried  than  Maine 
granite,  more  readily  dressed,  is  just  as  durable,  will  take 
as  high  a  polish,  and  when  finished  is  as  beautiful  as  any 
marble  known,  has  no  mineral  constitutents  to  oxidize  and 
stain,  and  is  in  inexhaustible  quantities.     It  comprises  such 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  145 

mountains  as  Crested  Buttcs,  Gothic,  Carbon,  Edgely, 
Beckwith  and  Marcellina,  as  well  as  the  ranges  known  as 
Ragged  Mountains,  the  Anthracite  range,  and  Wheatstone 
group.  Near  to  part  of  these  now  run  two  railroads,  and 
in  time  along  these  lines  will  be  mammoth  quarries ;  for 
here  is  a  better  rock  to  sendEast  than  the  East  can  possibly 
send  west. 

The  next  move  of  nature  in  this  locality  was  to  elevate 
these  submarine  mountains  above  sea-level,  so  that  shallow 
marshy  seas  were  at  their  bases.  The  climate  was  at  this 
sea-level  I  think,  more  tropical  than  any  thing  that  we  are 
acquainted  with  at  the  present  time ;  as  not  only  was  the 
latitude  such  as  to  have  hot  seasons,  but,  in  addition,  tow- 
ering up  thousands  of  feet  in  every  direction,  were  these 
mountains  of  volcanic  material,  giving  ofiflarge  volumes  of 
heat  by  radiation:  large  masses  of  volcanic  rock  cool  slowly 
in  the  atmosphere.  In  the  gorges  and  open  shallow  seas 
of  this  tertiary  age,  at  the  feet  of  these  mountains,  and 
among  all  of  this  warmth — and  very  great  moisture  there 
must  have  been  in  the  atmosphere,  too — commenced  the 
growth  of  the  plants  that  now  make  these  tertiary  coals. 
How  long  time  is,  under  such  circumstances,  as  we  reckon 
it,  we  can  have  no  data;  but  sufficient  was  the  period  of 
rest  here,  for  these  plant-growths  to  accumulate  several 
feet  thick. 

Here,  I  want  to  do  a  little  local  reasoning,  that  in 
principle  may  apply  to  other  eruptive  localities.  To  begin 
with,  this  eruptive  matter  must  have  been'' the  product  of 
internal  heat  below  the  earth's  surface;  the  overlying  crust 
must  have  been  proportionately  strong  to]J,hold  such  a  vast 
quantity,  confined,  with  its  cumulative  force  of  steam  and 
gas ;  when  this  power  had  accujnulated  sufficiently  to  exert 
itself,  the  eruptive  power  was  in  ratio  to  the  results  pro- 
duced, which  again  was  in  proportion  to^thickness  or  resist- 
ance of  the  overlying  earth-crust;  after  the   eruption,  there 


I 


146  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

would  be  an  internal  cavity  approximating  in  size  to  the 
cubic  contents  of  the  mass  recently  brought  to  the  surface; 
the  original  surface  rocks  would  have  the  tonnage  to  sup- 
port represented  by  the  mass  of  eruptive  material;  this 
weight  on  the  underlying  shell  then  became  to  a  greater  or 
less  extent  plastic,  and,  without  internal  support,  would 
cause  a  local  sinking  at  varying  periods,  which  periods  of 
subsidence  were  represented  by  changes  in  the  more  recent 
sediments  which'  were  afterward  deposited  on  the  new  floor 
or  sea-bottom ;  and  each  and  every  one  of  such  changes  of 
sea  depths  can  be  counted  by  the  variations  in  the  newer 
strata  of  rocks. 

Noting  the  above  reasoning,  in  these  coal  basins,  we 
find  after  a  time  a  subsidence,  and  on  top  of  the  coal  plants 
flowed  a  greater  depth  of  water.  The  mountains  were  still 
hot,  the  exposed  surfaces  somewhat  decomposed,  this  influx 
of  water  was  heated  to  a  great  degree,  and  took  into  solu- 
tion silica,  which  coming  in  contact  with  the  organic  mat- 
ter in  the  then  sea  bottom,  was  precipitated,  and  also  by 
the  gradual  cooling  of  the  waters. 

Here  this  section  for  a  time  was  stationary,  and  the 
sands  gradually  filled  with  these  watery  depths  until  an- 
other shallow  sea  was  repeated,  and  a  subsidence  followed 
which  washed  all  of  the  loose  movable  soil  of  the  adjoining 
lands  and  islands  into  the  deep  sea.  This  material  made 
the  mud  deposit — shales  now — which  follows  the  sand- 
stone. On  these  muds,  in  shallow  water,  the  growth  of 
the  coal  plants  again  commenced,  to  be  followed  in  repeti- 
tion by  what  has  already  been  shown;  and  this  was  re- 
peated six  different  times,  or  eighteen  different  subsidences 
and  periods  of  rest  are  now  shown  to  have  occurred  here 
locally;  perhaps  more,  if  we  could  get  at  the  deepest  part 
of  any  one  of  these  basins.  The  strata  built  up,  as  near  as 
I  could  ascertain,  aggregates  i  ,500  feet  in  thickness. 

Then  followed  a  greater  subsidence  at  once  than  at 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY,  14/ 

any  single  time  previous;  a  wider  r.rea  of  territory  was 
acted  upon  by  deeper  waters;  and  instead  of  sandstones, 
resulting  from  precipitation,  we  have  i,ooo  feet  of  con- 
glomerate, which  covered  all  of  the  named  mountains  of 
granite  porphyry. 

This  tertiary  age  was  closed  by  the  eruption  of  the 
lava  showing  on  the  dividing  ridge  between  Ohio  Creek 
and  East  River  near  Howville  or  Jack's  Cabin.  Subse- 
quent erosion  shows  this  lava  on  top  of  the  tertiary  sand- 
stones, and  subsequent  erosion  has  worn  down  these  sedi- 
mentary rocks  deposited  in  the  old  mountain  gorges  be- 
tween peaks  and  ranges  of  granite  porphyry,  laying  clear 
the  structure  from  the  latest  strata  to  where  it  began,  and 
all  to  be  seen  and  reasoned  out  as  I  have  shown. 

Now  for  the  anthracite.  I  spent  two  days  on  Anthra- 
cite range,  camping  out  to  get  at  the  following :  Standing 
on  the  top  of  this  range,  it  could  be  seen  that,  at  the  time 
of  the  recent  or  lava  eruption,  a  deep  gorge  or  crevice  had 
opened  from  the  eruptive  point  through  between  Wheat- 
stone  group  and  Mount  Carbon.  The  opening  came 
against  the  end  of  the  Anthracite  range,  with  the  effect  of 
setting  or  splitting  off  a  single  mountain  mass  by  itself. 
This  crevice,  evidently,  was  also  filled  with  eruptive  mat- 
ter, not  coming  to  the  surface,  but  exerting  force  and  pres- 
sure sufficiently  to  slowly  crowd  this  single  mountain  north- 
ward, which  in  its  turn  pressed  against  the  coal  measure 
strata  built  up  at  its  feet  and  against  its  sides  with  such 
force  that  these  originally  horizontal  sedimentary  rocks 
were  raised  to  an  angle  of  2i°.  The  heat  and  pressure 
generated  by  this  rock  movement  metamorphosed  a  coal- 
bed  under  2,000  acres  from  a  bituminous  coal  to  a  four-foot 
vein  of  the  finest  anthracite  that  is  now  known.  Here 
geology  and  chemistry  agree,  and  at  this  point,  I  think, 
Mr.  Charles  Henry  Baker,  M.  E.,  is  answered  that  it  is  an- 
thracite. 


148  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.' 

The  eruption  of  this  lava  raised  the  tertiary  beds  so 
that  all  of  the  strata  dip  away  from  the  lava  outcrop,  8^ 
feet  in  each  100  feet;  although  in  the  Ohio  Creek  basin,  I 
think,  from  what  I  saw,  that  the  dip  gradually  increases  as 
the  lava  mesa  is  approached.  The  sedimentar}^  rocks 
broke  in  short  cross-sections ;  along  these  breaks,  lines  of 
erosion  now  exist,  wearing  the  surface  into  numerous  gul- 
lies, exposing  the  coal-seams  and  thus  making  opportuni- 
ties for  original  discoveries. 

In  the  Ohio  Creek  basin,  the  greatest  development  is 
in  the  South  Park  coal-seam,  opened  under  the  superin- 
tendence of  Mr.  William  Housley.  The  v/ork  is  laid  out 
on  the  English  or  long-wall  system,  and  certainly  showed 
the  best  work  and  most  economical  result  of  any  of  the  de- 
velopments which  I  examined.  In  this  basin,  another 
vein,  the  Richardson,  has  been  opened  on  the  Augusta  and 
Owens  claims,  as  well  as  on  many  others. 

A  section  of  these  coal  measures  in  the  Crested  Butte 
basin,  where  they  are  principally  worked,  would  approxi- 
mate as  follows : 

No.  I.  300  feet  from  top  of  hill  is i  foot  of  coal. 

No.  2.     80  feet  below  this  is 3  feet  of  coal. 

No.  3.     65  feet  below  this  is 4  feet  of  coal. 

No.  4.  185  feet  below  this  is 6  feet  of  coal. 

No.  5.     78  feet  below  this  is 10  feet  of  coal. 

No.  6.   To  this  add  in  the  Ohio  Creek 

basin  200  feet  below  is 7  feet  of  coal. 

Seam  No.  i  is  practically  worthless. 

Seam  No.  2  is  that  opened  and  known  as  the  Howard 
F.  Smith  bank,  up  Slate  River. 

Seam  No.  3  is  opened  on  the  Smith  &  Jefferson  claim, 
on  the  Weaver  property,  and  one  place  between  the  anthra- 
cite coal  near  Irwin,  on  Anthracite  range,  is  in  this  horizon. 

Seam  No.  4  is  opened  by  the  Colorado  Coal  and  Iron 
Company,  and  in  Baxter's  gulch.  In  the  Ohio  Creek 
basin.  No.  4  is  represented  by  the  Richardson,  Augusta, 
Kubeler  and  Owens  openings. 


GUNNISON,  THE  BQNANZA  COUNTY.  1 49 

No.  5  is  the  coking  coal  vein  now  worked  in  the 
Crested  Butte  basin,  by  the  Colorado  Coal  and  Iron  Com- 
pany. 

No.  6  is  only  known  in  the  Ohio  Creek  basin  and  in 
the  South  Park  Company's  openings. 

The  eruption  of  the  lava  caused  the  Assuring  of  these 
tertiary  rocks,  so  that  now  we  have  what  has  hitherto  been 
unknown,  namely,  silver  veins  containing  rich  ruby  and 
native  silver  ores,  passing  through  coal  measures.  Where 
these  veins  break  through,  the  coal-seams  are  liable  to  be 
broken  and  faulted ;  and  in  immediate  vicinity  to  the  fis- 
sure-vein, the  coal  will  contain  more  or  less  iron  and  sul- 
phur ;  at  the  same  time,  fragments  of  the  coal  will  be 
found  in  the  gangue-rock  of  the  crevice. 

Having  some  remarkable  analyses  of  fixed  carbon 
shown  me  from  an  opening  up  Slate  River,  three  miles  be- 
yond Crested  Butte,. I  went  especially  to  examine  the  open- 
ings on  the  property.  This  vein  would  be  the  No.  2  of  the 
series.  The  coal  originally  outcropped  in  a  small  gulch 
eroded  into  the  side  of  the  ridge  rising  from  Slate  River, 
and  opposite  to  the  entrance  to  0-be-Joyful  basin. 

The  coal  was  followed  in  for  nearly  200  feet,  most  of 
it  being  good  merchantable  coal,. some  of  it  having  fixed 
carbon  enough  to  be  rated  as  an  anthracite,  and  showing 
remarkably  well  in  the  face  for  this  No.  2  vein.  Numer- 
ous cracks  or  faults  occur  in  the  roof  of  sandstone,  now 
making  mud  seams;  near  these,  the  coal  was  broken  and 
worthless. 

A  new  opening  has  been  made  into  the  hill  from  the 
head  of  the  gulch,  now  nearly  300  feet  in.  On  one  side  of 
this  opening  the  coal  is  constant ;  on  the  other,  a  fissure- 
vein  filled  with  eighteen  inches  of  calc-spar,  coming  from 
the  direction  of  0-be-Joyful  gulch.  This  will  certainly 
carry  mineral  with  depth,  and  makes  a  connecting  link 
through  to  the  veins  of  Washington   gulch,  and   absolutely 


150  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

proves  in  fact  what  I  had  first  advanced  as  a  theory,  that 
in  locaHties  the  mineral  veins  would  be  found  passing 
through  coal-seams. 

I  followed  these  tertiary  rocks  across  the  head  of 
Washington  gulch,  between  Gothic  and  Baldy  mountains, 
back  of  Belleview  mountain,  down  the  valley  of  Rock 
Creek,  over  Mineral  Point,  Meadow  and  Arkansas  moun- 
tains ;  and  could  see  where  they  again  came  in  below  the 
lake  near  Rock  Creek.  Here  erosion  shows  these  old 
tertiary  sea-bottoms  to  have  been  deep  enough  for  the 
coal-seams  to  again  appear,  and  report  says  there  are  much 
stronger  veins  than  those  in  the  particularly  described 
basins. 

The  coal  series  of  the  Front  range  of  Colorado,  as  well 
as  in  Middle  and  South  Parks,  belong  to  the  cretaceous 
age.  While  I  found  cretaceous  rocks  in  abundance  on  the 
Avest  slope  in  the  section  examined  this  season,  I  did  not 
find  the  coal  of  the  same  age,  except  in  one  locality,  namely, 
Chicago  Park,  two  miles  from  Pitkin.  Here  some  holes 
have  been  sunk,  disclosing  the  coal,  but  also  showing, 
from  evident  and  easily  perceived  causes,  that  it  is  worth- 
less, being  highly  charged  with  iron  and  sulphur.  The 
quantity  here  also  must.be  very  limited. 

As  to  the  character  of  plants  that  grew  in  these  waters 
to  make  these  coal-seams,  there  appears  to  be  such  a 
diversity  of  opinion  among  the  highest  authorities,  that  I 
do  not  think  this  character  of  metamorphism  has  been  suf- 
ficiently proved  as  yet.  This  I  would  like  to  record,  that 
from  my  personal  work  this  season,  the  great  difference  be- 
tween ordinary  bituminous  coal,  and  that  which  is  called 
the  coking  coal,  would  certainly  seem  to  arise  from  a 
material  difference  in  the  original  vegetation. 

I  spent  five  days  at  Jack's  Cabin,  examining  the  rocks 
in  connection  with  the  lava  outcrop,  principally,  because  I 
had  been  informed  that  large  bodies  of  hematite  iron  ex- 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  I5I 

isted  here;  in  fact,  one  of  the  United  States  geological  re- 
ports gives  this  locality  as  the  place  where  the  largest  body 
of  iron  ever  seen  occurs.  After  five  days'  work,  I  could 
not  find  it,  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  first  ex- 
amination was  a  hasty  one,  and  the  conclusion  jumped  to 
that  this  black  lava  was  hematite  iron,  when,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  it  does  not  contain  ten  per  cent,  of  iron. 

I  thoroughly  examined  the  eroded  basins  between  two 
lava  mesas,  hoping  to  find  evidence  of  the  coal-seams  here, 
and  that  the  heat  and  pressure  from  the  over-lying  erup- 
tive rock  would  have  changed  such  coal  to  an  anthracite, 
but  I  could  not  find  a  particle.  At  present,  I  feel,  from  the 
showing,  that  the  basin  is  not  eroded  to  great  enough  depth 
to  catch  the  coal-seams.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  a  pos- 
sibility, for  all  that  now  shows,  that  on  this  edge  of  the  coal 
basin  the  underlying  rocks  rose,  and  only  allowed  the  up- 
per coal  measure  strata  of  sandstones  and  shales  to  be  de- 
posited over  the  older  rocks,  and  the  coal-seams  do  not 
exist. 

I  note  the  above  from  the  fact,  that,  farther  up  on  the 
Slate  River,  this  same  thing  has  occurred,  from  about  the 
entrance  to  0-be-Joyful  basin.  The  cretaceous  shales  ap- 
pear by  the  roadside,  and  above  them  is  the  overflow  of 
granite  porphyry,  overlain  in  turn  by  the  strata  of  tertiary 
rocks,  but  only  having  in  places  the  upper  veins  of  coal 
Nos.  I  and  2,  while  the  two  seams  worked  by  the  Colorado 
Coal  and  Iron  Company  are  entirely  wanting.  This  oc- 
currence is  repeated  up  Coal  Creek,  a  short  distance  from 
the  Colorado  Coal  and  Iron  Company's  openings;  a  break 
occurs  across  the  hill  between  Coal  Creek  and  Baxter's 
gulch,  which,  I  believe,  will  mark  the  end  of  the  two  lower 
veins  of  this  basin  westward. 

Such  results  as  are  set  forth  in  the  above  paragraphs 
show  how  limited  in  the  real  coal  area  of  the  Crested  Butte 
basin,  while  on  the  Ohio  Creek  side,  such  things  do  not  ap- 


152  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

pear  to  have  occurred,  which  makes  the  area  of  this  latter 
basin  ver}^  much  greater  for  a  possible  product  of  mer- 
chantantable  coal. 

In  speaking  of  the  geology  of  coal  sections,  Dr.  J.  S. 
Newberry  says  "that  many  of  the  coal-seams  of  Ohio  have 
been  worked  into,  and  exposed  the  following  phenomena 
to  view : 

"i.  A  fire-clay  below  each  seam,  permeated  with 
roots  and  rootlets  of  stigmaria. 

"2.  A  coal-seam  having  a  maximum  thickness  of  six 
feet  in  the  bottom  of  the  basin,  thinning  out  to  feather 
edges. 

"3.  The  coal  on  the  margin  of  the  basins  is  some- 
times thirty  or  forty  feet  above  its  place  in  the  the  bottom. 

"4     An  average  of  two  one  half  per  cent,  of  ash. 

"5.  A  roof  composed  of  argillaceous  shale,  of  which 
the  lower  layers  are  crowded  with  impressions  of  plants." 

The  above  might  be  used  for  a  general  description  of 
all  bituminous  coal  fields  of  the  carboniferous  age. 

The  field  I  examined  differs  from  No.  i,  in  that  there 
is  no  appreciable  amount  of  fire-clay,  and  argillaceous 
shales  make  the  floor;  from  No.  2  in  that  in  one  place  I 
found  the  seam  of  coal  full  size,  abutting  directly  against 
granite  porphyry,  although,  when  the  field  is  fully  ex- 
plored, there  may  be  localities  thinning  out  to  feather 
edges,  the  same  as  in  Ohio. 

¥0.  3  might  be  found  to  differ  locally  in  all  coal 
basins.     Of  No.  4  the  same  might  be  said. 

I  think  these  tertiary  coals  average  more  than  two  and 
one  half  per  cent  of  ash. 

They  differ  from  No.  5  in  that  the  roof  is  sandstone, 
and  the  shale  occurs  below  the  coal. 

A  recent  examination  of  the  cretaceous  coal  at 
Golden,  Colorado,  shows  veins  varying  from  six  to  sixteen 
feet  thick,  average   nine   feet,   standing   nearly  vertical,  a 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  I  53 

slight  dip  to  the  west,  with  a  roof  of  fire-clay ,  affording  ex- 
cellent material  for  the  manufacture  of  fire-brick  and  terra- 
cotta. 

Concerning  the  economic  values  of  the  tertiary  coals, 
I  obtained  the  following  data.  Tests  were  from  the  Smith 
bank : 

Moisture  at  105  degrees 1.16 

Volatile  matter  of  red  heat 4.70 

Fixed  carbon 90.20 

Ash 3.94 

Specific  gravity  at  60°  Fahrenheit  1.4 19,  a   cubic  foot 

of  coal  weighing  eighty-eight  pounds.     Of  five  samples: 

Moisture  and  volatile  matter  was 7-346 

Fixed  carbon 85.062 

Ash 7-592 

Other  tests  gave  the  lowest  fixed  carbon  at  seventy- 
seven  per  cent.  Average  amount  of  sulphur  is  0.403  from 
three  separate  veins. 

In  caI,orific  power,  the  maximum  amount  of  carbon  is 

80.80. 

Pennsylvania   anthracite  gives 77-88 

Colorado  "  "     74.08 

Canon  City,  Colorado,  cretaceous  coal..., 69.61 

Wyoming  cretaceous  coal 63.74 

VVeberCanon,  Utah  coals 57-57 

California  coals 55-26 

The  above  is  the  statement  made  by  Charles  P.  Wil- 
liams, chemist,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

,  Had  the  anthracite  from  the  Anthracite  range  section 
been  used  for  a  comparison  of  calorific  power,  I  am  confi- 
dent the  record  would  have  equaled  the  best  Pennsylvania 
anthracite,  as  this  coal  is  constant  in  fixed  carbon  from 
ninety  to  ninety-four  and  one  half  per  cent. 

From  another  source  I  learn  that  the  amount  of  illum- 
inating gas  from  these  tertiary  coals  is  seven  one  quarter 
cubic  feet  per  pound  of  coal,  or  14,500  cubic  feet  per  toi\ 
of  2,000  pounds,  not  equaled  anywhere  as  far  as  now 
known,  except  perhaps  by   the   Albertites  of  Nova  Scotia. 


154  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY, 

Of  the  coking  coal  seam,  the  following  was  obtained 
from  Mr.  James  K.  Robinson,  superintendent  of  the  Color- 
ado Coal  and  Iron  Company's  mine.  Sample  came  from 
1,200  feet  in,  and  was  the  latest  test  up  to  October  6,  1882 

Water 72 

Volatile  matter 23.24 

Fixed  carbon 7i-9i- 

Ash 3.93 

In  comparison,  Connellsville  coal  shows : 

Moisture 1.260 

Volatile  matter 30. 107 

Fixed  carbon 59-6 16 

Ash 8.233 

Sulphur o  784 

While  tests  from  a  coking  coal  in  Kentucky  ranged  in 

Volatile  matter 30.060  to  37.160 

Fixed  carbon 54.740  to  62.100    " 

Moisture 2.000  to    8.000 

Ash 2.900  to    4.340 

Sulphur 494  to    1.475 

Thus  showing  these  tertiary  coals  far  ahead  in  econ- 
omic value. 

The  average  value  of  bituminous  coal  at  Golden, 
Colo.,  for  two  years  has  been  $2,-30  per  ton;  cost  of  min- 
ing and  hauling,  ;^2.57  per  ton.  In  the  East,  this  grade  of 
coal  is  worth,  on  an  average,  ^1.22  per  ton;  cost  of  mining, 
;^0.88. 

Connellsville  coke  at  the  ovens  is  worth  ^$1.75  per  ton, 
and  a  protective  freight  tariff  in  favor  of  Colorado  produc- 
tion of  $20  to  ^45  per  ton. 

With  the  above  named  freights,  Gunnison  County 
ought  to  get  a  share  of  that  business  on  a  very  profitable 
basis. 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  155 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

4 

The  Final  Summing  Up    of  the  V<.  ork  Done. 


The  following  might  be  considered  a  general  summing 
up  ot  the  geology  and  connecting  mining  interests  of  what 
I  found  in  these  five  months'  constant  work,  over  an  area 
of  territory  covering  3,000  square  miles;  through  which  I 
have  daily  traveled,  examining  its  geological  and  mineral 
bearing  sections.  Walking  and  riding  nearly  i;500  miles 
to  thoroughly  learn  the  same;  and,  I  now  realize  that  it  has 
been  a  more  complete  examination  than  has  ever  been  at- 
tempted before. 

This  district,  examined,  is  bounded  by  the  North  Fork 
of  Anthracite  Creek,  Treasury  Mountain,  Crystal  basin,  and 
below  Sheep  Mountain  on  the  north,  the  head  of  Conun 
drum  gulch,  Teocalli  and  Italian  mountains,  heads  of 
Spring  Creek,  Quartz  Creek  and  Tomichi  River  on  the 
east.  The  Granite  belt  south  and  southwest  of  Gunnison 
City,  for  forty  miles,  through  from  Pitkin  to  Cebolla  on  the 
south.  The  coal  measures  of  Ohio  Creek,  the  Anthracite 
range  and  Ruby  mining  districts  on  the  west. 

Of  this-3,ooo  square  miles  I  find  nearly  2,000  of  it 
would  be  embraced  under  the  head  of  mineral  lands;  nearly 
100  square  miles  as  coal  lands;  the  rest  as  ranch,  grazing 
and  timber  lands,  including  some  barren  rocky  districts  in 
which  nothing  of  practical  utillity  has  yet  been  discovered. 

The  geological  structure  would  be  found  to  be  briefly 
as  follows  : 

A  belt  of  primitive  or  archaen  granite  extends  from  the 
Continental  Divide  on  the  head  waters  of  Quartz  Creek 
and  Tomichi  River,  through  southwest  to  White  Earth 
River,  a  distance  of  over  55   miles,  averaging  ten   miles  in 


156  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY, 

width;  is  well  fissured  and  evidently  contains  the  basis  of 
many  fine  gold  mines,  as  well  as  large  bodies  of  iron  ore; 
the  latter  are  shown  more  strongly  at  Cebolla,  while  the 
gold  veins  are  most  prospected  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Pitkin  down  to  Ohio  City,  seven  miles,  and  some  near 
Tomichi,  the  best  districts  to  my  mind  not  being  prospected 
and  worked  at  all  yet. 

This  same  granite  is  encountered  again  in  Swan  basin, 
eight  miles  from  Irwin,  on  the  Anthracite  Creek  slope,  it  is 
also  the  dividing  crest  of  Poverty  gulch,  showing  twenty 
feet  wide  and  half  a  mile  in  length,  at  over  12,000  feet  ele- 
vation. It  makes  the  underlying  rock  of  Paradise  and  Carl 
Schurz,  or  Bear  basins;  it  is  the  rock  of  Snow  Mass  moun- 
tains; from  here  continues  almost  in  a  direct  line  south, 
showing  as  the  dividing  range  between  Conundrum  gulch 
and  Gothic,  or  head  of  Copper  Creek,  continues  down  and 
along  Taylor  Park  and  River,  and  through  to  the  Contin- 
ental Divide  at  the  head  of  Tomichi  River,  or  place  of  be- 
ginning. 

I  am  thus  particular  in  describing  these  rocks,  owing 
to  their  governing  influence  on  the  quantity  and  quality  of 
the  minerals  that  are  found  in  connection  with  them. 

Of  sedimentary  rocks  I  could  not  find  those  of  the 
Devonian  and  Silurian  ages  at  all,  unless  they  are  repre- 
sented by  some  detached  localities  of  small  area,  showing 
now  thin  bedded  and  metamorphosed  to  mica  schists,  etc. 

The  oldest  sedimentary  rocks  to  be  identified,  were 
the  sandstones  near  Gunnison  City,  and  a  limestone  with 
fossils  a  few  miles  up  Brush  Creek;  these  rocks  are  car- 
boniferous. 

This  period  was  closed  by  the  eruption  of  the  red- 
feldspathic  granites,  which  occur  most  abundantly  on 
Cement  and  Brush  Creeks.  I  also  found  some  evidences 
of  the  same  on  Taylor  River,  Quartz  Creek  and  the 
Tomichi.     The    closing  of  the  carboniferous   age  on  this 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  15/ 

slope  does  not  appear  to  have  been  attended  with  the  same 
extensive  eruption  of  red  granite,  as  is  evidenced  on  the 
eastern  slope  or  Front  range  of  the  Rocky  Mountain 
system. 

The  principal  mineral  veins  of  this  period  are  marked 
as  very  wide,  filled  with  a  quartz  porphry  gangue,  partially 
mineralized  with  a  very  low  grade  ore,  principally  iron  sul- 
phides, and  generally  not  of  practical  value,  except  where 
more  recent  veins  break  through  this  rock  again,  allowing 
a  reconcentration  of  the  mineral  particles.  Where  this  has 
occurred  the  ore  appears  to  be  exceptionally  rich  in  the 
last  formed  veins. 

Following  the  eruption  of  the  red  granite,  came  the 
building  up  of  the  cretaceous  rocks,  consisting  of  sand- 
stones, limestones,  and  shales  alternating.  No  coal  occurs 
here  with  these  rocks  same  as  is  shown  in  connection  with 
those  of  the  same  age  along  the  Front  range,  excepting  a 
small  and  very  limited  era  in  Chicago  Park,  two  miles  from 
Pitkin,  and  which  is  now  practically  worthless,  owing  to 
subsequent  changes,  which  have  thorough  charged  it  with 
iron  and  sulphur.  This  little  spot  is  all  of  the  cretaceous 
coal  I  have  so  far  found  on  this  slope.  The  closing  of  the 
cretaceous  age  in  this  described  section,  was  marked  by 
one  of  the  most  stupendous  eruptions  ever  recorded,  cover- 
ing hundreds  of  square  miles  with  one  class  of  eruptive 
material,  building  up  not  only  single  mountains  but  moun- 
tain ranges,  and  one  peak  with  this  rock  for  its  dome,  is 
one  of  the  highest  in  the  State,  viz:  Monumental  Moun- 
tain at  the  head  of  Tomichi  River,  and  of  nearly  14,000  feet 
elevation. 

This  rock  is  known  as  Granite  porphyry,  and  is  the 
material  of  such  ranges  as  the  Wheatstone  group,  Ragged 
mountains  and  the  Anthracite  range,  also  of  single  peaks, 
such  as  Crested  Butte,  Gothic,  Carbon,  Edgely,  Beckwith 
and  Marcellina.     As  has  been  noted  before,  I  believe   it  to 


158  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

be    one    of  the   finest  building   stones    on   the  continent- 

The  heat  and  pressure  (for  this  eruption  occurred  at 
great  sea  depths)  generated  during  this  age  or  Granite 
porphyry  eruption,  partially  metamorphosed  these  cretace- 
ous rocks,  the  sandstones  to  quartzites,  the  shales  to  slates^ 
and  the  limestones  towards  a  marble  in  some  localities. 

Now,  geologically  speaking,  before  we  can  have  min- 
eral sections,  we  must  first  have  volcanic  or  eruptive 
centers,  from  which  long,  and  generally  parallel  fissures  ex- 
tend through  the  earth's  crust.  The  fissures  principally^ 
follow  one  general  course,  and  if  carefully  traced  on,  or  by 
the  surface  evidences,  will  be  found  to  lead  from  one  erup- 
tive point  to  another,  and  so  on  for  many  miles,  especially- 
through  a  mountainous  and  mineral  bearing  country. 

These  fissures  and  eruptive  places  also  denote  a 
mechanical  fact,  that  they  always  occur  along  a  line  of 
greatest  weakness  in  the  earth's  crust,  and  this  deduction 
gives  a  common  reason  for  the  continuance  of  mineral  belts 
in  a  general  course. 

These  fissures  are  filled  with  mineral  atoms,  derived 
from  the  country  rocks  through  which  the  crevices  open^ 
representing  practically  a  concentration  of  atoms,  taken  up 
in  solution  from  the  neighboring  country  rock.  The  waters- 
passing  along  these  earth  crust  openings  being  mainly 
thermal,  and  of  strong  solvent  powers.  T.  Sterry  Hunt 
says  the  solvent  powers  of  cold  water  are  sufificient  to  take 
into  solution  any  known  mineral  element,  and  in  thermal 
waters  this  power  is  increased.  Of  this  fact  I  obtained  ab- 
solute proof  in  nature,  in  one  locality  finding  iron  pyrites, 
galena,  zinc  and  quartz  crystals,  all  being  deposited  to-day 
as  a  precipitant  from  a  cold  water  stream. 

Agassiz  says,  when  referring  to  the  possible  ages  of 
mountain  chains,  that  the  power  required  for  the  eruption 
of  volcanic  masses  is  in  proportion  to  the  thickness  of  earth 
crust  to  be  broken  through,  that  the  results  obtained  are 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  I  59 

in  proportion  to  power  used  or  required,  consequently  the 
largest  eruptive  masses  and  highest  mountain  ranges  are  of 
the  latest  ages.  Now  follow  out  this  method  as  applied  to 
mineral  sections,  and  if  my  deductions  are  correct  as  stated, 
regarding  the  forming  of  mineral  veins,  as  the  resultant  of 
the  Assuring  of  the  earth's  crust  by  eruptive  forces;  then 
the  amount  and  size  of  veins  with  their  ore  contents  should 
be  in  proportion  to  the  eruptive  masses,  produced  at  the 
commencement  of  the  era  or  age,  represented  by  the  erup- 
tive rock. 

This  section  having  locally  the  largest  amount  of  this 
character  of  material  known  in  any  one  locality,  it  would 
be  reasonable  to  look  for  a  proportionate  amount  of  min- 
eral and  fissure  vein  products,  and  if  absolute  proof  of  the 
correctness  of  such  reasoning  is  not  found  in  this  described 
section  of  Gunnison  County,  it  never  will  be  proved  by  the 
geology  of  any  other  section  of  the  world. 

Commence  at  the  head  of  Slate  River,  cross  over  the 
divide  to  the  head  of  Rock  Creek,  pass  around  Galena 
Mountain  into  Crystal  basin  at  the  foot  of  Treasury  Moun- 
tain, and  every  few  hundred  feet  there  is  vein  after  vein  of 
ores,  large  and  strong,  carrying  iron,  zinc,  galena  and  cop 
per  sulphides.  These  veins  break  through  cretaceous 
slates,  which  character  of  country  rock  adds  nothing  to  the 
value  of  the  vein  product,  but  rather  allows  a  deterioration 
from  the  fact,  that  the  slate  is  friable,  breaks  and  crumbles 
into  the  fissures,  mixes  country  rock  with  the  vein  material, 
thus  enlarging  the  crevices,  allows  them  to  become  irregu- 
lar, and  generally  cursed  by  the  prospector  and  miner. 
However,  in  this  locality  it  is  but  small  depth,  compara- 
tively speaking,  to  the  underlying  country  rock,  viz:  prim- 
itive granite,  and  into  which  the  veins  must  pass.  Here^ 
as  noted  elsewhere  in  this  book,  the  ore  will  be  found  to 
be  concentrated  into  fissures  with  good  and  true  walls,  also 


l6o  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY, 

an  increase  will  be  found  in  the  quality,  especially  of  the 
gold  and  copper  product. 

So  great  was  the  mineralizing  action,  especially  in  one 
of  the  basins  named,  that  the  rocks  parted  between  layers 
of  quartzite,  slate  and  limestones  allowing  bands  of  ore  to 
form  in  horizontal  beds  between  the  strata,  as  well  as  in 
the  vertical  fissures  that  are  found  breaking  across  the 
stratified  rocks.  These  flat  veins  have  a  general  inclination, 
or  dip  of  30°  above  a  horizontal  line,  but  at  some  depth 
will  pass  into  the  granite. 

This  basin,  I  believe  to  be  the  most  wonderful  mineral 
section  now  known.  The  principal  base  ores  are  iron, 
zinc,  galena  and  copper  sulphides,  earring  a  fair  average 
value  in  gold  and  silver;  the  latter,  where  combined  with 
antimonial  galena,  rises  to  a  grade  of  several  hundred 
ounces  per  ton.  One  vein,  a  flat  one,  can  be  traced  from 
the  point  of  Treasury*  Mountain,  where|  it  is  opened  four- 
teen feet  solid  in  ore,  round  to  the  entrance  of  the  basin, 
fully  two  and  a  half  miles,  and  a  continuous  average  ore 
body  of  at  least  ten  feet  solid  of  mineral. 

From  the  principal  mine  opened,  ore  was  shipped  by 
burros  eight  miles,  by  wagon  six  miles,  by  rail  to  Denver 
at  ^8.00  per  ton  freight,  and  then  after  deducting  smelter 
charges  and  cost  of  mining  paid  the  owners,  ^45.00  per  ton 
net  in  car  load  lots.  I  saw  one  car  load  of  lead  ore  that 
was  settled  for  at  the  rate  of  seventy-seven  per  cent,  for  the 
metallic  lead,  while  a  picked  assay  test  gave  eighty-six  per 
cent,  of  the  same  metal  in  the  ore,  the  highest  grade  galena 
now  known.  The  copper  sulphides  give  twelve  to  fifteen 
per  cent,  metallic  copper. 

From  this  single  basin  can  be  produced — it  is  only  a 
question  of  the  number  of  men  put  at  work — more  tons  of 
ore  per  twenty-four  hours  than  the  whole  Leadville  district 
now  produces, — nearly  1,500  tons  per  day — and  of  as  fair 
an  averag-e  grrade  in  value. 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  l6l 

On  the  other  side  of  the  basin  is  another  large  vein, 
across  the  surface  of  which,  where  I  had  the  rocks  in  place, 
I  broke  mineralized  rock  for  a  space  of  150  feet  wide. 

To  this  section  and  veins  of  this  age  may  be  added, 
Paradise  basin,  Baldy  Mountain,  part  of  Belleview,  Mineral 
Point,  Meadow  and  Sheep  mountains,  all  of  them  according 
to  my  reasoning,  showing  a  good  foundation  for  the  belief 
that  the  ores  will  increase  in  quality,  after  certain  depths 
are  passed,  except  Sheep  Mountain. 

On  this  mountain  the  ores  will  be  no  better  in  quality 
for  great  depths,  than  the  sulphides  show  at  the  top  of  the 
veins,  from  the  fact  that  the  cretaceous  rocks  show  much 
greater  strength  here  than  elsewhere,  it  being  nearly  3,000 
feet  down  to  Rock  Creek  from  the  mountain  top,  and  all 
stratified  rocks.  This  places  the  granite  the  practical 
source  of  supply,  at  this  locality,  to  deep  to  act  as  a  gov- 
erning influence  over  the  whole  vein  product. 

However,  the  lower  grade  ores  found  here  will  prob- 
ably increase  in  quantity  with  depth,  if  not  in  quality. 

Coming  back  to  this  age  of  veins,  we  have  on  the 
headwaters  of  the  Slate  River,  veins  breaking  through  an 
older  vein  formation,  viz:  the  quartz  porphyry,  here  the 
zinc  sulphides  as  a  re-concentration,  rise  in  value  to  over 
500  ounces  of  silver  per  ton,  the  highest  grade  zinc  I  have 
met. 

The  next  district  of  this  age  we  find  by  passing  from 
the  head  of  Copper  Creek  to  Conundrum  gulch.  Prospect- 
ing has  only  begun  here  and  the  real  value  of  the  section 
not  proved. 

Next  in  order  is  the  head  of  Brush  Creek,  and  over 
Pearl  Pass  to  Ashcroft. 

Between  Pearl  Pass  and  Ashcroft  occurs  the  largest 
outcrop  of  ore  I  have  ever  seen,  with  but  one  exception. 

The  next  section  will  be  found  geographically  as  the 
head  of  Cement  Creek  and  Taylor  River.    Here  prospecting 


1 62  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

has  only  begun,  but  the  veins  and  geological  structure  be- 
ing the  same  as  the  Rock  Creek  country,  many  good  things 
ought  to  be  found,  as  well  as  large  ore  bodies. 

After  this  came  south  of  Italian  Mountain  to  the  head 
of  Spring  Creek. 

The  cretaceous  limestones  commence  to  show  here, 
and  make  contact  veins  highly  charged  with  galena  sul- 
phides. 

The  Doctor  mine  is  the  principal  one  opened,  and  with 
only  the  development  of  one  season,  has  $160,000  gross  in 
sight.  Next  to  this  is  the  King  lode  claim,  out  of  which  I 
saw  large  masses  of  galena  taken  from  an  open  cut.  More 
of  these  ore  bodies  ought  to  be  foK.md  near  here  and  doubt- 
less will  be  in  tlie  future. 

This  belt  probably  extends  from  the  head  of  Spring 
Creek,  across  the  Taylor  River,  through  or  near  by  Union 
Park,  above  the  head  of  the  lesser  Ohio  Creek,  above  Pit- 
kin, crossing  the  heads  of  Quartz  Creek,  and  showing  an 
abundance  of  ore  in  the  Silver  Islet,  Fairview,  Way  Up  and 
Silent  Friend  properties,  as  well  as  many  prospects  on  the 
same  belt  too  numerous  to  mention. 

At  the  head  of  the  North  Fork  of  Quartz  Creek,  many 
other  veins  pass  through  in  the  direction  of  Tin  Cup.  It 
is  at  the  head  of  this  creek  that  the  Porcupine  group  of 
mines  is  situated,  already  described  in  another  place. 
About  six  miles  from  Pitkin  this  great  contact  series  of 
veins  crosses  the  North  Fork  of  Quartz  Creek  on  to 
Prospect  Mountain.  Here  the  only  mine  opened  is  the 
Celestial,  from  which  iron  ore  to  be  used  as  a  flux,  was  be- 
ing shipped  to  St.  Elmo.  Some  very  high  gold  assays 
were  claimed  from  this  mine,  one  showing  thirteen  oz.  gold 
per  ton. 

From  Prospect  Mountain  the  contact  I  have  been  fol- 
lowing appears  to  pass  over  to  the  east  side  of  the  Con- 
tinental Divide,  sweeping  around  by   Hancock,  and  re-ap- 


GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY.  163 

pearing  again  on  the   west  slope   at   the   head   ofTomichi 
River  and  below  Monumental  and  Clover  mountains. 

These  mountains  are  capped  with  granite  porphyry, 
here  the  eruptive  rock  broke  up  the  line  of  possible  con- 
tact. However,  where  it  has  come  in  again  it  has  lost 
nothing  in  strength,  as  there  is  6,000  feet  opened  that 
shows  the  third  largest  outcrops  of  mineral,  and  now  the 
greatest  possibilities  of  galena  ores  of  any  part  of  the  belt. 
The  North  Star,  Carbonate  King,  Iron  Mask,  Iron  Duke, 
Iron  King,  and  other  claims  in  Galena  guch,  at  White  Pine 
are  on  this  belt. 

From  this  place  I  found  the  contact  veins  again  crossed 
the  range,  some  where  above  Agate  Creek,  on  the  west 
slope,  re-appearing  in  the  Arkansas  valley  near  Maysville. 

To  this  point  is  as  far  as  I  have  traced  the  veins  of  the 
granite  porphyry  age  of  eruptive  rock,  but  the  granite  on 
the  west  side  of  the  Tomichi  appears  also  to  be  fissured  for 
five  miles  down  stream.  This  I  have  called  particular  at- 
tention to,  when  describing  this  locality  in  a  former  chap- 
ter, and  refer  to  it  as  a  very  rich  gold  and  silver  section, 
but  not  worked  as  it  should  be. 

In  giving  a  condensed  statement  of  the  mineral  belt  of 
this  age,  it  would  appear  as  follows  :  That  it  is  continuous 
through  from  Snow  Mass  to  White  Pine,  a  distance  in  an 
air  line  of  over  100  miles;  that  the  veins  vary  in  width 
from  ten  to  500  feet;  that  the  belt  is  three  to  five  miles  in 
width;  that  the  strongest  veins  originally  had  heavy 
bodies  of  iron  as  the  surface  ores  followed  by  zinc,  galena 
and  possibly  copper  as  depth  is  gained  in  mining;  that 
subsequent  surface  erosion  has  cut  off  most  of  the  iron,  but 
the  galena  can  be  found  with  the  limestone,  more  or  less 
constant  the  whole  distance,  and  where  the  whole  of  the 
limestone  is  eroded,  I  find  the  veins  constant  in  granite,  a 
larger  percentage  of  copper  as  base,  and  the  ores  higher 
grade  in  gold   and   silver ;  that   in  a  geological   sense   the 


164  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

veins  and  ore  products  are  in  proportion  to  the  granite 
porphyry  eruption,  and  a  direct  result  of  the  same  geolog- 
ical age,  viz  :  the  closing  of  the  cretaceous  period. 

Further,  that  this  belt  of  veins  and  ores  of  the  same 
age,  ought  to  continue  on  the  other  side  of  the  nucleus 
described,  crossing  over  to  and  continuing  in  connection 
with  the  Uncompahgre  range  as  it  does  with  the  Elk  Moun- 
tain system,  varying  only  in  quality  of  ores  as  the  country 
rocks  may  change. 

The  quieting  down  of  this  locality,  after  the  great  and 
radical  changes  just  described,  allowed  the  commencement 
of  a  new  geological  period,  viz:  the  tertiary  which  pro- 
ceeded to  build  up  locally  as  I  have  attempted  to  illustrate, 
with  its  coal  formations,  in  the  preceding  chapter,  so  that 
with  reference  to  the  rock  formation  of  this  latest  age, 
I  may  now  pass  on  to  the  time  of  their  close.  This  is  a 
repetition  of  the  two  preceding  ages,  inasmuch  we  find  that 
the  carboniferous  period  was  closed  by  an  eruption  of  red, 
feldspathic  granite,  the  cretaceous  age  by  a  local  eruption 
of  granite  porphyry,  and  now  the  tertiary  we  find  was 
terminated  by  the  eruption  of  lava,  the  principal  locality 
showing,  is  on  the  dividing  ridge  of  Ohio  Creek  and  East 
River,  a  few  miles  from  Gunnison  City. 

This  time  the  eruptive  power  was  not  required  to  rend 
the  overlying  rocks  to  the  same  extent  as  noted  in  the  pre- 
vious ages.  Consequently  the  eruptive  material  produced 
was  not  so  great  in  quantity, nor  the  accompanying  fissuring 
of  the  rocks  larger  in  proportion  than  would  be  naturally 
looked  for  in  a  comparative  ratio  to  the  other  results  pro- 
duced. 

The  eruptive  rock  of  this  age  was  a  black  vesicular 
lava,  proving  an  eruption  into  the  atmosphere  by  the  large 
number  of  air-cells  or  blebs  in  the  material.  This  occurred 
just  south  of  the  Wheatstone  group,  and  flowed  over  the 
tertiary  formation  some  square  miles.     Subsequent  erosion 


GUNNISON,  THP:  BONANZA  COUNTY.  1 65 

cut  the  mass  in  two,  leaving  at  the  present  time,  two  flat  or 
table-Hke  formations  several  feet  thick,  capping  a  dividing 
ridge  between  the  two  named  streams. 

When  the  lava  eruption  occurred,  a  proportionate 
amount  of  fissures  opened,  proving  again  a  mechanical  fact 
in  relation  to  veins,  which  is,  that  they  always  open  through 
lines  of  weakness  in  the  earth's  crust.  For  these  latest 
fissures  followed  the  lines  of  the  old  gorges  between  moun- 
tains of  granite  porphyry,  then  filled  with  tertiary  strata, 
instead  of  following  possible  direct  lines,  and  Assuring  such 
mountains,  I  did  not  find  a  single  vein  of  mineral  passing 
through  the  large  mountain  masses  of  granite  porphyry. 
While  on  the  other  hand  the  gorges  between  these  moun- 
tains were  full  of  them. 

As  these  veins  are  of  the  latest  age,  so  they  are  in 
proposition  to  the  eruption,  that  they  are  the  direct  conse- 
quence of,  and  as  compared  to  the  veins  of  the  immediately 
preceding  age,  are  quite  limited  in  extent.  But  they  carry 
the  richest  ores  of  the  whole  section,  as  proved  by  the  de- 
velopments at  Irwin,  the  product  being  ruby  silver  with  na- 
tive metal  also,  and  very  high  grade  zinc  and  galena  sul- 
phides. It  is  only  in  connection  with  these  described  rocks 
and  age  of  veins,  that  I  found  ruby  silver  ores. 

The  opening  of  these  fissures  started  the  present  lines 
of  erosion  and  drainage,  so  that  now  the  country  presents 
the  appearance  of  a  number  of  mineral  basins  eroded  down 
into  the  coal  measures,  with  granite  porphyry  peaks  and 
croppings  occurring  in  every  direction  around  them. 

A  beautiful  illustration  occurs  in  these  districts  of  the 
direct  influence  of  country  rock  through  which  the  fissures 
opened,  over  the  character  of  the  vein  product.  I  could 
start  at  the  head  of  one  of  these  basins,  where  the  vein 
material  outcrops  in  the  conglomerate,  and  the  ore  would 
be  low  grade,  principally  zinc,  iron  and  galena  sulphides, 
with  only  a  value  of  $15.00  to  $20.00  per  ton   in  silver. 


1 66  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

Follow  the  same  vein  down  to  where  the  conglomerate  is 
removed  by  erosion,  and  the  vein  outcropped  in  the  real 
coal  measure  sandstones,  there  ruby  and  native  silver  be- 
gins to  appear  with  the  named  sulphides,  but  the  gangue 
combining  with  the  ores,  is  still  silica.  Follow  the  same 
vein  down  to  where  all  of  the  coal  measure  strata  has  been 
eroded,  and  the  vein  outcrops  in  granite  porphyry,  here  I 
find  the  same  rich  ores  as  ruby  and  native  siver,  silver 
glance,  also  high  grade  galena  and  zinc,  but  the  gangue 
changes  from  quartz  to  calc-spar. 

This  is  the  first  experience  that  miners  had  in  Color- 
ado of  rich  silver  veins  occurring  through  horizontal  coal 
measure  strata,  and  with  such  an  anomaly  to  work  in,  it  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at  that  mistakes  have  occurred,  some 
of  them  expensive  ones.  But  where  I  can  get  rich  ruby 
and  native  silver  ores  outcropping  at  grass  roots,  with  sul- 
phides of  iron,  zinc  and  galena,  as  I  have  on  many  claims 
in  the  Ruby  district,  I  am  not  afraid  to  bank  on  the  future 
product  of  the  section.  These  ores  go  down,  and  are  in 
just  as  permanent  true  fissure  veins,  as  those  occurring  in 
any  other  geological  section  known. 

This  section  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  North 
Fork  of  Anthracite  Creek,  on  the  west  by  the  South  Fork 
of  the  same,  on,  the  south  by  Coal  Creek,  and  on  the  east 
by  the  Slate  River. 

It  comprises  such  basins  as  Ruby  district,  Ruby  gulch 
Justice  Elk,  Independence,  Coon,  Evans,  Peeler,  Redwell, 
Deniocrat,  Hardscrabble  and  0-be-Joyful  basins. 

In  Swan,  Mineral  and  Kansas  basins.  Poverty  gulch  as 
well,  and  also  the  North  Fork  of  Anthracite  Creek,  the 
ores  change  in  accordance  with  the  change  in  the  country 
rock,  while  Iron  and  Silver  basins  do  not  show  much  to 
be  counted  upon  for  pay  of  any  kind  of  ore  whatever. 

The  head  of  Washington  gulch,  eight  miles  from 
Crested  Butte,  gives  ores  of  the  same  character  as  the  Ruby 
district,  and  I  am  certain  the  same  belt  extends  further  on, 
passing  to  the  east  of  Belleview  Mountain,  but  not  now  de- 
veloped enough  to  prove  the  value  of  the  ore  bodies. 


GUNNISON,  THE  KONANZA  COUNTY.  16/ 

On  dcveloi)nicnt  some  of  the  veins  of  this  ago  will  be 
found  passing  through  coal  seams  of  the  tertiary  period. 

The  foregoing  represents  as  succinctly  as  possible  a 
resume  of  what  is  the  general  characteristics  in  mineral 
wealth  of  this  country,  so  that  I  have  found  in  brief,  that 
within  a  radius  of  sev^enty-five  miles  of  Gunnison  City,  there 
are  2,000  square  miles  of  mineral  lands,  with  more  ore  per 
square  mile  than  was  ever  seen  before  in  the  world  to 
know  it. 

That  the  drainage  of  all  but  three  points  is  towards  a 
common  center  meeting  at  Gunnison;  that  the  whole  coun- 
try is  readily  accessible,  having  two  competing  railroads, 
narrow  gauge,  with  a  prospect  of  a  third  and  broad  gauge 
road  within  three  years ;  that  branch  lines  have  been  or 
will  be  extended  to  both  coal  sections;  that  Gunnison 
County  has  expended  this  year  (1882)  ;$ioo,coo  in  making 
good  wagon  roads  from  railroad  points  to  all  of  the  most 
developed  mining  camps. 

That,  although  this  country  is  barely  three  years  old, 
work  enough  has  been  done  to  prove  that  these  mineral 
sections  are  permanent  and  productive. 

That  Gunnison  City  is  located  in  the  centre  of  the 
largest  mineral  belt  now  known;  with  coal  fuel  the  nearest 
by  of  the  very  best  quality,  and  in  quantity  sufficient  to 
smelt  the  ores  produced. 

That  this  season  saw  one  of  the  most  successful  con- 
centrating mills  in  the  State,  built  in  this  part  of  the  coun- 
try, viz:  at  Elko  on  Rock  Creek. 

That,  personally,  I  have  not  visited  a  single  mining 
camp,  but  that  is  capable,  in  time,  of  furnishing  forty  to 
1,000  tons  per  twenty-four  hours,  of  concentrating  ore  for 
just  such  mills,  and  which  are  the  practical  mills  for  all 
mining  districts. 

That,  at  Gunnison  City  there  is  now  a  smelting  fur- 
nace building  by  one  of  the  most  successful  men,  connected 
with  ore  reduction  (lead  ores)  in  the  United  States. 

That,  I  have  seen,  personally,  enough  gold  and  silver 
districts,  in  this  described  territory,  to  produce  more  of 
those  values  per  annum,  after  the  next  five  years'  develop- 
ment, than  was  the  output  of  the  whole  State  of  Colorado 
in  the  year  1882. 

That,  I  have  seen  lead  ore  enough,  and  indications  of 
it  sufficient  to  warrant  the  statement,  that  the  product  will 
in  time  compare  favorably  with  the  output  of  the  State  of 
Missouri. 


1 68  GUNNISON,  THE  BONANZA  COUNTY. 

That,  I  have  examined  more  iron  ores  than  is  now 
known  in  either  of  the  States  of  Pennsylvania  or  Missouri. 

That,  I  have  seen  districts  enough,  with  copper  sul- 
phides in  their  veins,  to  run  a  smelter  plant  on  the  Copper- 
Matte  basis,  ten  times  as  large  as  the  present  works  at 
Argo,  Colo.  (Hill's  works). 

Such  works  ought  to  be  established  at  a  central  point 
like  Gunnison  City ;  that  the  gold  ores  of  Ohio  City,  Pit- 
kin, the  Granite  Belt  and  Tomichi,  could  meet  the  copper 
sulphides  half  way  in  transportation  and  be  reduced  with 
them. 

That,  within  this  territory  I  have  found  Tellurium  ores. 

That,  I  have  been  over  more  than  eight  square  miles 
of  territory  containing  nickel  and  eobalt — more  than  was 
ever  seen  before  in  paying  quantities. 

That,  there  is  350  square  miles  of  gold  territory,  al- 
most wholly  unimproved,  in  which  it  may  be  possible  to  find 
Iridium,  Palladium  and  Platinum. 

That,  I  have  found  traces  of  tin,  but  have  not  proved 
its  existence  in  paying  quantities. 

That,  there  is  building  stone  of  unsurpassed  quality 
and  inexhaustible  quantity;  that  limestones,  gypsum  and 
marbles  exist  in  large  quantities. 

That,  I  have  found  that  rare  mineral  Uranium  to  exist 
in  paying  quantities. 

That,  while  I  did  not  find  fire-clay  at  all,  I  found  im- 
mense quantities  of  ordinary  clay  for  building  brick. 

Last,  but  not  least,  the  climate  is  unsurpassed,  eleva- 
tion not  too  great,  nor  winters  too  severe,  but  that  work 
in  the  mines  can  be  carried  on  the  whole  year  through 
with  a  proper  preparation,  that  the  valleys  are  mild,  w^ell 
watered,  and  the  finest  stock  country  in  Colorado. 

What  more  I  would  ask  can  be  wanted,  to  make  a 
large  and  prosperous  city  at  a  central  point  in  this  desdribed 
region,  where  all  of  the  products  of  this  unusually  natural 
rich  section,  can  meet  on  a  down  hill  grade,  at  a  common 
center  to  be  handled,  while  the  same  place  in  turn  will  be 
the  distributing  center  of  this  whole  section  for  what  is 
consumed. 

Such  are  the  present  and  prospecting  advantages  of 
Gunnison  City,  the  commercial  center  of  the  future  Bon^ 
anza  County  of  Colorado,  as  seen  by  the  writer. 


FINIS. 


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h  day  ov^Zta^ 


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,eN.^'^^^^^ 


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> Colorado »B 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


JOHN  K.  HALLOWELL, 

Mines  Examined  and  Reported  Upon 
■  at  Reasonable  Prices. 

Address :  Room  9  Witter  I'A^c^, 

Cor.  :6iJtVi'd  Blake  Sts., 
*  '  ■  Denver,  Colorado. 


F.  G.  TAXON, 

'    Ore  ^v^illin.g^  ^v^a.c]r:Lin.er3r 

Concentraiiiig  Mills  a  Specially.  Mills 
Dcsi,i>ned  and  lUiilt  under  Contracts,  adapted  to 
Ores  of  any  Locality. 

Investigations  made  01  ores,  and  advise 
!    given  as  to  proper  Machinery  to  ns(\ 

Address:  Room  9  Witter  Block, 

Cor.J6tli  and  Blake  Sts., 

Denver.  Colorado. 


